The Queen and the Soldier
by Captain Katie-cat
Summary: More or less a study of the conditions in which Janeway and Roslin operate.


**The Queen and the Soldier**

by CaptainKatie

Rating: NC-17 for language, homosexual content, violence, and other such things

Pairing: J/7; Janeway/Roslin subtext

Setting: Crossover between BSG (After "Sacrifice" of Season Two) and Voyager (After "Survival Instinct" of Season Six)

Spoilers: BSG and Voyager, anything and everything

Summary: More or less a study of the conditions in which Janeway and Roslin operate.

Disclaimer: Paramount owns anything relating to Star Trek, and the writers and actors/actresses own a few of the words. The Sci-fi Channel and others own BSG. I own the angst!

Feedback: Yes please! Katie_

CHAPTER 1

With one leg crossed over the other while a finely boned hand held a gray PADD filled with the latest Astrometrics report Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship _Voyager_ resisted the urge to yawn.

Janeway's blue-gray eyes shifted from the copious amounts of intricately technical and precise data on the small screen to the bulky, dark featured man seated next to her. She was relieved to see that her first officer, Commander Chakotay, looked as bored and restless as she felt though she hid it capably behind a mask of cool professionalism.

The Captain thought she heard a badly concealed yawn from the direction of Ensign Tom Paris, her helmsman. No sooner was that yawn expelled when she heard another, this time from the Operations Station manned by Ensign Harry Kim. She didn't have to look over her shoulder to know there would be a soft blush to Harry's features since his yawn had been much louder than his best friend's had been.

Even before Harry could open his mouth to speak Captain Janeway stood up from her chair a split second after she felt her ship abruptly and rather unexpectedly drop out of warp. The inertial dampeners kept her stance steady as she turned towards the Ops station.

Harry's brow creased as his dark eyes took in the sensor data. His eyes were wide when he looked up from his panel to his captain. "Captain, I'm reading high levels of neutrinos. They might be spatial rifts."

"Back us off, Mr. Paris, full impulse." As her stormy gray eyes locked onto the view screen Janeway moved across the Bridge so she could stand next to her sandy haired helmsman. "Full power to the shields."

"Shield strength at maximum." Tuvok's voice was strong and steady and would be even in the most distressing of circumstances due to his Vulcan heritage.

_And here I thought my day was so dull_, Janeway watched with a mixture of scientific curiosity and dread as sixty-two ships which varied greatly in their shapes and sizes appeared in flashes of bright lights across the black of space.

A shiver of anticipation skittered down Janeway's spine as blood thundered in her ears when Tuvok informed her of one simple but all-consuming fact.

"I'm reading 49,590 human life signs, Captain."

"What the frak is going on?"

Admiral William "Bill" Adama was far too poised to be as shaken as his XO, at least to show it so blatantly to express such profanity in CIC, though his thoughts were the same.

It started as an anomalous blip on the DRADIS after they had completed their jump, but then Lieutenant Gaeta had soon clarified that the blip was in fact a vessel. A small one at that. It wasn't even the size of one of _Galactica's_ flight pods. But as Gaeta had told them in his mild but alert way, it was a complete unknown to them. Hull configuration was nothing they had seen before. And some sort of electromagnetic interference prevented any conclusive scans regarding power signature or origins.

"Sir." A very serious Lieutenant Gaeta ignored Colonel Tigh's outburst and instead maintained his attention on Admiral Adama. "It's possible that it's alien."

"Like hell. It's a Cylon trick!" Tigh grunted at the very thought of the notion of alien beings. "We should blast it while we have the chance."

"It doesn't look like much of a Raider to me." Adama's narrowed eyes were steadily fixed on the inexplicable blip.

"Sir, the president for you." Petty Officer Dualla's right hand pressed the earpiece closer as she patched the communiqué into the CIC command station.

Without hesitation Adama retrieved the black handset from the command station and waited to hear the alto tones of the President of the Twelve Colonies. The sole person he took orders from or at least when he agreed with them.

"Admiral, we have a bit of a situation on our hands." There was a perfect mixture of wry humor and annoyance in her soft, steady tones. "I'm being bombarded by calls saying we've encountered an alien spaceship."

"We're not sure what we have here, but I've sent a message to the ship." Adama looked sharply at Dualla and after she shook her head he replaced his attention solely on the president. "We haven't gotten anything back yet."

"And you don't think it's Cylon?" She didn't sound suspicious, just questioning. He figured she would have known he'd have the thing shot out of space if he had any inclination that it was Cylon. And she was right.

"I have Vipers patrolling our perimeter, but the ship hasn't made any move towards us." Though his face was a stony mask of weathered determination and interminable patience internally he began to tire of waiting to see what this vessel would do. "They're outside of visual range."

"Perhaps you could convince one or two of your pilots to get a closer look, Admiral."

Adama could practically see her smirk and the image caused a pull of his own lips. "Of course, Madam President."

"Could they be from the Briori planet?"

Janeway remembered fondly the place Harry spoke of where they had encountered not only a small community of humans but also one of her heroes, the aviator Amelia Earhart, in the second year of their journey through the Delta Quadrant.

"Doubtful. They had no interest in leaving their planet." Tom shook his head. How one could not want to fly through space he didn't know. "Besides, there were only about four hundred of them."

"Well, one thing's for sure, none of those ships match Federation specs." B'Elanna Torres had several PADDs in front of her as she looked across the conference room table to where their Captain stood silently next to the viewport. "They seem… antiquated somehow."

"Time travel?" Chakotay wondered at the silence the Captain maintained. His dark eyes were filled with concern and he had the strangest sense that he had been here before.

"There were no chronitons detected." Seven's voice was patient though a note of irritation at the seemingly inexplicable situation was laced throughout. "High levels of neutrinos would indicate the vessels traveled through wormholes constructed similarly to transwarp conduits utilized by the Borg."

"If these ships can create wormholes maybe they could send us home." Harry's voice expressed his excitement over the prospect as his tone had so many times before when Earth had seemed within reach.

"It is unwise to speculate as to what these people could do, Ensign." Tuvok's tone was flat but it still irritated Harry immensely. "They are a pre-warp civilization, one in which we cannot make contact with."

Hiding behind a small moon had been an unspoken comprise between himself and Captain Janeway. Tuvok could practically sense the internal struggle being waged within his Captain.

"Pre-warp?" Tom remembered why he hated Starfleet sometimes. All their rules never seemed to make all that much sense in the field. "They got out here somehow right? What difference does it make if it wasn't by warp engines? And they're human!"

"Captain, they have some sort of faster-than-light propulsion, that much is clear." B'Elanna wasn't that interested in the fact that they were human. What she was interested in was how the hell these people in tin cans had managed something that Federation scientists hadn't. "Should it really matter that the rest of their technology is so… archaic?"

"Shouldn't we find out why there are almost fifty-thousand human beings here in the middle of the Delta Quadrant with us?" Chakotay had a feeling that would be the tipping point for his Captain. He was more than slightly disappointed when it wasn't she who answered him.

"Their species is irrelevant, Commander." Tuvok voice was as matter-of-fact as usual, which annoyed the First Officer immensely. "We should not make contact if we are to stay in accordance with the Prime Directive."

Seven's eyes moved from Tuvok to Captain Janeway. "We could perform covert reconnaissance in order to extrapolate a way to travel in the manner that their ships have."

"You mean steal it!" Harry Kim's face was so taken aback Seven might as well have slapped him across the face.

"As we did the transwarp coil from the Borg." Seven's implant over her left eye rose as she met his shock with impassivity.

"That's different, Seven." Tom almost rolled his eyes, almost.

Something akin to offense flitted across Seven's features until it returned to its normal inscrutable expression. "Because we stole the technology from the Borg?"

"Well… yeah." Tom's brow creased as his voice came out much too uncertain for his liking.

"Maybe we could trade with them without revealing _Voyager's_ technological, uh, superiority." Neelix showed his approval for his own plan with a grand smile to his lips.

"How're we supposed to do that? They don't even have subspace communications." B'Elanna huffed out a snort as she crossed her arms over her chest. She was tired of this meeting. She wanted to either get the technology these people had or get the hell out of this area of space.

"Maybe they need food." The smile hadn't faded in the least from Neelix's lips.

"Or medical supplies." The Doctor helpfully chimed in.

"We wouldn't have to reveal any of our technology to them if we have a list of non-technological supplies ready in order to trade." Chakotay almost smirked as the eyebrow raised above Tuvok's left eye expressed the Vulcan's displeasure.

"Captain to the Bridge."

Janeway moved quickly past her startled senior staff before she marched purposefully towards her Captain's chair. She was followed by the eight crewmembers that all swiftly went to their stations as their captain asked for a report from Ayala.

"Two vessels on an intercept course. Minimal firepower." After he delivered his report, Ayala quickly moved to the back of the Bridge to man the master situation display.

"Janeway to all hands, move away from all viewports." Janeway stood with her eyes steadily locked onto the approaching vessels, her hands were on her slim hips, and her stance was rigid. "I repeat, move away from all viewports. Two ships are on an intercept course and their pilots must not be allowed to see you."

"Captain, our shields are preventing any scan from the two vessels." Tuvok watched closely as the slim white ships circled _Voyager_ in large loops as they rolled and crossed each other's paths.

"I suspect they're just here to get a closer look, Commander." Janeway had to applaud the two pilot's daring despite their recklessness. _Voyager_ had the capacity to destroy the two ships despite their speed and maneuvers. Janeway had to wonder if the two pilots suspected that or if they would even care if they did.

"What the frak kind of ship is that?"

"Keep the line clear, Hot Dog." Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace's hazel eyes narrowed as her voice was sharp and commanding. She kept her finger on the trigger in case this mystery ship decided she'd make good space fodder.

"Are you seeing that?" Hot Dog's voice was high-pitched and Starbuck had the urge to ram his Viper with her own in lieu of her fist in his face. She would have contemplated it more if she hadn't been shocked speechless for perhaps the first time in her life.

"Frak me!" If these were aliens then they knew English for she would bet her life that she could read and understand the dark lettering on the front hull of this ship. "CIC this is Starbuck. The vessel is registered with the markings 'U.S.S. Voyager NCC 74656', they fraking know English!"

"Have they made any hostile moves?"

The Old Man had actually paused for a second. Starbuck thought she'd die of shock all over today. "Negative. They're just sitting there, sir."

"Come back to the _Galactica_. We're going to find out who these people are one way or another."

"I could take some shots at them, sir." Her finger twitched in anticipation. "Get their attention."

"Negative. Come back home."

"Aye, sir."

"I've made my decision, gentlemen." Janeway's narrowed stormy gray eyes looked pointedly at her two commanders who had disagreed with her on at least four different points in the last ten minutes.

"Captain, Neelix's ship is only equipped with minimal weapons and shields." Chakotay had been pleased when the Captain had informed Tuvok and him that she would be willing to make contact with this fleet of vessels, but he had thought she would take the _Delta Flyer_ not the _Baxial_. "Not to mention it has no transporters."

"Exactly. If they board the _Baxial_ they won't find much."

"As Chief Security Officer it is standard procedure for me to accompany you into a possibly hostile situation." Tuvok was well aware that he needn't remind his Captain of these policies, but it seemed that she was not only going to dismiss his opposition to her making first contact at all but also his duty to protect her as well.

"From the communiqués we've been picking up they think we're aliens. It'd be less confusing if only Terran crewmembers were to make first contact." Janeway cherished the hot coffee which she sipped carefully from her silver mug. For some reason she had the feeling she wouldn't be drinking it again for some time. "I'm sure it'll be enough of a shock to them to meet other humans out here."

"It was certainly a shock for us." Chakotay had maintained little doubt in his mind that Captain Janeway would decide to make contact, it was either that or depart and he knew she would never leave such a strange mystery as to what almost fifty-thousand human beings were doing on sixty-three ships in the middle of the Delta Quadrant, ships they had never seen before.

"Indeed." Tuvok's calm was rock solid though he still disapproved of his inability to accompany his captain. But resigned to her decision he decided he would send a few of his elite force to accompany Captain Janeway in his stead.

"Have Ensign Munro and Crewmen Biessman and Jarot meet me in Shuttlebay Two, concealed weapons only and no tricorders." The positions of the three crewmembers Tuvok had assigned on this mission were not lost on Janeway and she was both warmed by the sentiment and irritated. Really, she could take care of herself.

"Aye, Captain." Tuvok nodded once before he left the Ready Room.

"He might as well have sent the whole hazard team." Janeway's smirk was partially hidden behind the rim of the mug. She tipped it back and drained the last of the black liquid within.

"Do you want me to call him back to make that suggestion?" Chakotay's tattoo crinkled above his left eye as he smiled a deeply dimpled smirk. It was more due to his wish to hide his own concern rather than any humor he had found in his small joke. His expression turned as serious as his voice. "These people could be dangerous, Captain."

"I'll be careful, Chakotay." She deposited the now empty mug on her desk before she moved closer to the man she was to leave her ship to. "I expect the carpets to be cleaned before I'm back."

He felt his heart thump rapidly beneath her small hand and he smiled truly now. "Aye, Captain."

"So that's all you got? 'U.S.S. Voyager NCC 74656'?" Tigh took a sip from his small black mug after he snorted his dissatisfaction.

"Yeah. That's all I got." The hands crossed behind her back twitched as she had the strong urge to feel her fist connect with the XO's face… again. "They're human."

"Perhaps. Or perhaps this is a Cylon trick of some sort." Roslin's intelligent green eyes had a reproachful touch to them as she looked pointedly at the blonde haired pilot who looked more excited than the President could remember her looking when cards weren't involved.

The excitement at the prospect of who these people could be was not allowed much purchase as President Roslin's pragmatism, or perhaps it was cynicism, overrode any other response but skepticism.

"There were windows." As if those three words explained everything, Kara Thrace let a smirk play on her lips. "Cylons don't have windows on their ships. They don't need them."

"Windows?" Colonel Tigh shook his head in disgust before he imbibed the rest of the dark amber fluid from his mug.

"I suppose that makes sense." The President of the Twelve Colonies smiled softly as she removed her dark rimmed glasses. "What I don't understand is how these people got all the way out here. And in that ship. Could the Colonial government have constructed a prototype and sent it out before the Cylon attacks?"

Adama picked up a photograph taken from Starbuck's Viper. The sleek silver ship had what looked like two engine pods extended from the aft of the ship. It was like nothing he had ever seen. "If it is they did one hell of a job. Our sensors can't get a clear reading of anything but what it looks like."

"Sir." Gaeta's voice was losing its characteristic calm. "Vessel approaching."

"U.S.S _Voyager_?" Roslin brushed a stray auburn lock away from her eyes as she watched a small blip make its way steadily towards their present location.

"Negative, U.S.S. _Voyager_ is maintaining position. The vessel on approach is the size of a Raptor." Gaeta also watched as the blip got progressively closer.

"Deploy a squadron to create a protective umbrella around the Feet." Adama wasn't about to let some unknown vessel despite what species was onboard to come within firing range of the _Galactica_ or its charges. "Dualla, hail them again. Tell them to hold position. If they wish to come onboard they're going to need to state their intentions first. Or I will open fire."

"Aye, sir." Dualla spoke quietly into her mouth piece as she extended the message through the radio waves. "_Galactica_ to advancing ship please cease your approach, hold position. I repeat, hold position. Please state your intentions or we will be forced to treat you as a threat."

Several people's breaths were held as the blip slowed to a complete stop on the DRADIS.

"Well they can hear us at least." Roslin wasn't sure if she should be comforted by that fact or not. The radio silence on the part of these mysterious people was beginning to grate on her last nerve.

The silence of the CIC was suddenly broken as a warm, husky and entirely feminine and human sounding voice sounded over the speakers of the command deck.

"This is Captain Janeway of the Starship _Voyager_. We come in peace."

CHAPTER 2

With a hiss and a few clanks the airlock cycled through as President Laura Roslin stood with her hands clasped in front of her. On her right was Admiral Adama who might as well have been there to meet a group of school children for all the expression he showed on his weathered face. Behind her and the Admiral was a large contingent of _Galactica_ personnel standing at attention. Roslin had to admit she was impressed that there was no shifting amongst any of them though she could almost feel the collective excitement and nervousness. On the other side of that hard-seal would be humans, like them, and she was certain they would have much to tell them.

Finally after moments that seemed like hours the hatch opened into the flight deck of _Galactica_ and out stepped a blonde haired woman who was slim, tall, and looked to be in her late twenties. Her light blue eyes surveyed the area keenly and Roslin had the distinct impression that this woman was a force to be reckoned with. The thick black and red combat ready looking outfit she had on added to the effect.

Quickly after the rather imposing blonde moved away from the hatch came a massive man in a similar outfit with short blonde hair and a muscled physique that seemed both bulky and undeniably powerful. His eyes also surveyed the area keenly but his smirk seemed to be almost taunting as if he was saying to the crowd before him to take their best shot at him.

The dark haired woman who followed next was slight in build, tall, and had unbelievably dark penetrating eyes that seemed to absorb more than just her visual surroundings. Roslin wondered at the contents of the small gray case the woman had with her.

The two men that exited next were not garbed in the same outfits as the first three. Instead the dark haired man had a more loosely fitted black cotton uniform with yellow across his upper chest and shoulders over a gray turtleneck shirt. The blonde haired man next to him was similarly garbed though he had red across his shoulders instead of yellow.

Who exited the hatch next took Roslin off guard and her smile faltered for a second before her professionalism kicked back in. A petite auburn haired woman with elegant yet strong and undeniably lovely features dressed in a similar outfit as the blonde man who had exited shortly before her surveyed the flight deck with piercing blue-gray eyes that held wisdom and something strangely formidable in their great depths. The woman was small, a few inches shorter than Roslin and more so due to the President's choice of footwear, but the stature of the woman before her detracted nothing from the commanding presence she projected that made her almost intimidating. Okay, Roslin had to be truthful, she _was_ intimidated especially when those blue-gray eyes locked onto her and there seemed to be a knowing look directed her way. As if this stranger of a woman knew what Roslin had done and hadn't done, what sins she had committed, the darkness that was still held within her breast.

_Captain Janeway, I presume_. Laura thought to herself and knew she was correct not only by the authoritative aura which surrounded the slim woman but the subtle though visible way the rest of the group created a protective ring around the Captain as these strangers approached the _Galactic_ crew and the President.

Finally the six strangers made their way across the paneling of the flight deck to stop closely in front of where Roslin, Adama, and Colonel Tigh stood almost rigidly at attention.

"Captain Janeway, welcome to the _Galactica_." Though his voice was gruff, Adama's hand was warm and was a definite gesture of peace. It appeared that the Captain of _Voyager_ was aware of this as she shook his hand formally, firmly, and with just the smallest air of relief.

"Thank you, Admiral Adama. It's a pleasure to be here."

Roslin thought the voice of the Captain was even more arresting when she heard it in person. Like Bill's, Captain Janeway's voice had a gruffness to it that bespoke a person who had spent the better part of their lives yelling orders over the cacophony of a space battle. Aside from the deep huskiness there was also warmth, the tone filled with compassion, understanding, and perhaps a touch of wariness as well. This Captain Janeway didn't seem like an unintelligent individual and Roslin couldn't begrudge the woman for being a bit guarded. It wasn't so long that Cain had been welcomed with open arms and look where that had gotten the Fleet.

Then Bill introduced Captain Janeway to his XO. Who Roslin decided had been a bit unprepared when a finely boned but firm hand held on to his forearm while the other was busy with a strong handshake by the way Tigh had red tinting at the tips of his ears and the back of his neck.

And now it was her turn. Laura Roslin was caught off guard by this Captain once again. For when Captain Janeway stood in front of the President she smiled. It had begun as a small pull of wine colored lips which quickly bloomed into a toothy grin that reached bright blue eyes seemingly untouched by the darkness that held Roslin in a vice grip. The President felt drawn to that innocence, that ignorance. She returned the smile as something warm and perhaps forbidden skittered across her skin as a hand was placed in hers.

"Madam President, it's very nice to meet you."

"Captain Janeway, the honor is ours I assure you." The Presidential mask was now firmly in place and Roslin was bemused when another knowing look was revealed within dark blue eyes that mesmerized the President with their depth and nuances.

"Perhaps we could move to somewhere more private." Janeway's voice was low enough that only Roslin, Tigh, and Admiral Adama could hear and though the tone was light there was an urgency hidden within and a command. "I'm sure we have much to discuss."

Almost unconsciously Adama nodded his head and even Tigh seemed to defer to the small Captain and Roslin tried not to chafe at how easily the two men had been commanded. But they saw something in Janeway that perhaps she couldn't quite connect to. A fighter. A soldier.

Laura was just the President. A queen on her throne. Untouchable and alone. But then again Roslin had been the only one to receive that grand smile. Perhaps this Captain Janeway saw something worth such a gift within Roslin. Those knowing looks from penetrating blue eyes made Laura Roslin consider that perhaps in the vastness of space she had found someone not entirely unlike herself. A kindred spirit. A part of Laura knew she wanted to discover what this woman had gone through, had lived through, had done herself to give those blue eyes the darkness of sadness, of loss, of tragedy felt. But what was more, Laura wanted to know what the other woman hadn't done. What gave this woman a lightness that Laura had not felt for so long?

Roslin found herself walking steadily through the narrow passages of _Galactica_ behind Adama and Captain Janeway. Their conversation, as sparse as it was, flitted back to her and Roslin wondered if Janeway wasn't perhaps a bit of a politician herself. The words which flattered not only the Admiral, but his ship, and his crew in no way sounded forced, insincere, or sycophantic. Instead Janeway's words had just the right amount of admiration and awareness within the tones that each compliment and observation seemed completely natural and sincere.

Members of the _Galactica_ crew who had expected alien beings were perhaps quite disappointed that the strangers who traveled through their vessel looked ordinary, human, if not a little out of place in their coordinated outfits which looked pristine next to the uniforms worn by the crew of the Battlestar.

"Captain?" Adama stood cordially next to the open door of his quarters. He allowed Janeway and her entourage entry first before he took up the rear. When all were inside he sealed the door behind him. If these strangers were concerned by the clicking of the locking mechanism none of them showed it, especially their Captain.

The Admiral let his eyes settle on the Captain who was in the process of being presented a seat by an uncharacteristically polite Colonel Tigh. Unobservant was not what Bill Adama was and the fact that she hadn't asked about their technology either meant that she knew everything she wanted to know about it or that she didn't care to know anything about. Captain Janeway didn't seem like a careless person to him.

Captain Janeway, Adama thought, was a person who was quite skillful at keeping you on your toes, off guard, most likely to ensure that she has the upper-hand at all times. He couldn't begrudge her that. All ship commanders were controlling in their way and the manner in which she led the five members of her party without a word needing to be uttered bespoke a commander who had honed the skill over years or who just had that authoritative ability almost naturally. Something told him with Janeway it was both.

Adama's eyes shifted to the President who had been oddly quiet during their trip through _Galactica_. Roslin's eyes were shifting from looking at her notes to observing the Captain as Janeway was offered a drink by Tigh. The Admiral wondered at the attention the President bestowed upon this stranger, but chalked it up to curiosity. He sure as hell was curious and was damned well ready to get some answers.

Captain Janeway was seated in the middle of the long brown cushioned couch of Adama's sitting area. The two men in the looser fitted garb were seated to the right of her and the three remaining stood like sentinels against the bulkheads of his quarters. He felt their eyes on him as he took a seat on a cushion next to the one Janeway solely occupied. The President took the chair to the side of the couch. Laura shifted her legs, one over the other, as she made herself comfortable. Tigh opted to pull up a dining room chair.

Admiral Adama would have chastised his old friend for the drink Tigh had given the Captain and the one the Colonel held in his own hand but Adama knew there was something relaxing about a few starship commanders having a drink with one another. And to Janeway's credit she didn't even sniff the contents in the small black mug before she took a hearty drink without so much as a blink.

"Captain Janeway." Roslin's hands were clasped atop her stocking clad knees as she angled herself towards Janeway. The President's voice instantly drew to a close any idle conversations that had been commencing. "Who exactly are you?"

"That, Madam President, is the question isn't it." Janeway placed the still half full mug onto the coffee table before she mirrored the President's stance. "I'm as human as you are."

"I would tend to believe you on that." Laura allowed her gaze to travel over the Captain's form before the green eyes were raised to look upon Janeway's handsome features. "Which one of the Twelve Colonies did you come from?"

Janeway paused, licked her lips, and sighed quietly before she answered. "We didn't come from any of your… Colonies, Madam President. We're from a planet a great distance from here."

"Where is this planet?" Roslin could feel blood rush to her cheeks and suffuse her body with anticipation. Could these people be from the Thirteenth Colony? Earth?

"Forty-thousand light years away. We've spent the past six years trying to get back there." Something had told Janeway not to speak of Earth as she so readily did whenever she came into contact with a seemingly friendly species.

"Is your FTL drive broken?" Tigh would be willing to help out this attractive captain as much as he could. He could have a bunch of grunts go to her ship and fix up the drive fine.

"No."

The way Janeway drew out that one word answer sparked a thought in Adama and he decided to go with it.

"You don't have a FTL drive. Do you, Captain?" Adama watched as measured blue-grey eyes found his. The answer was in their depths. "Then how exactly did you get out here?"

"That's a long story. Suffice to say it was not by our own devices." Janeway's tone brooked for no argument or for any follow up questions.

"You're from Earth." Laura Roslin ignored the surprised looks from both Adama and Tigh. Her green eyes were solely trained on Captain Janeway and her telling stormy gray eyes. "Aren't you?"

"Yes." Janeway's tone was serious with traces of caution laced within.

Only the President and the captain remained seated. Adama and Tigh both stood abruptly from their seats which caused three weapons to be trained on them by the trio in combat uniforms.

Tigh's eyes narrowed as he looked at the Captain with suspicion. "You're telling me you're from the Thirteenth Tribe?"

"What I am telling you," Janeway's voice never lost its calm nor did her expression as she stood slowly before she caused the lowering of three weapons with a small motion of her hand. "Is I am from Earth."

"Captain, let me try to explain." President Roslin had also stood and moved so that she was positioned between the Captain and Adama and Tigh. "The Sacred Scrolls tell us that the Thirteenth Tribe left Kobol a few thousand years ago. The Tribe traveled far and made their home upon a planet which circled a distant and unknown star. We were told that Earth is that planet. We've been trying to get there. Without much success I'm afraid."

"Why have you been trying to get to Earth, Madam President?" Janeway's voice was both entreating and cautious, suspicion colored the husky tones.

"Our worlds have been decimated by an… enemy of the Colonial." Roslin desperately wanted to erase the suspicion Janeway held, but she was uncertain as to how. They had never considered the possibility that the Thirteenth Tribe wouldn't want them to come to Earth. "We're refugees, all that's left of our people. We want a safe haven from our enemy. The Scrolls tell us Earth is that place."

"The Cylons." It wasn't a question, it was more of an assumption on Janeway's part but she knew there was a story there by the way Adama and Roslin shared a look that bespoke caution on both their parts. Janeway knew what that look meant. They would attempt to handle Janeway carefully to get what they wanted.

"What do you know about the Cylons?" Adama's voice was one of sharp command and Janeway had to keep her irritation at bay as she turned her attention to him

"Just what we picked up over the comm channels." Janeway's hands went to her slim waist and Adama thought it shouldn't have been quite such a display of superiority but it was. "Admiral, I know nothing of your conflict with these… Cylons, nor do I particularly want to or need to. It might be better for all of us if I don't. I'm going to be frank with you. I'm interested in your FTL drive and I am willing to provide you with supplies for your people in exchange for technical information regarding your propulsion system."

"But you don't want us following you, is that it, Captain?" Admiral Adama already knew the answer and he'd be lying if he said he couldn't blame her, but he wasn't just going to hand over his only bargaining chip. They wanted to get to Earth as well and he'd be damned if this Captain would leave them behind. "Would you really abandon fifty-thousand human beings?"

"It's not quite that simple, Admiral." Janeway almost cursed her curiosity. This was not at all what she had expected. A people with technology she wanted who at the same time were as primitive as humans from Earth's twenty-first century. "Regardless of your species I shouldn't even be here talking with you."

"With all due respect, Captain, if we were to give you information on our FTL drive you'll be getting what you want, but where will that leave us?" Adama was beginning to formulate a plan to overcome the Captain's small ship, though something told him that would be a more difficult task than it seemed.

"Where you are right now I suppose." Janeway made a slight motion with her auburn head and immediately her five companions flanked her on all sides. "We offer food stuffs and medical supplies freely, but it's time for us to return to our ship."

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to go back to your ship, Captain." President Laura Roslin relied on the power of the Gods to give her the strength to keep her hand steady as she held it firmly on the red shoulder of Captain Janeway. Roslin didn't want to use force, but this was the single most important piece of information they could ever hope to receive and she would be Gods damned if she'd let it slip past her because of the obstinate woman before her.

"Remove your hand or I will remove your arm."

It was the first time any of Captain Janeway's companions had spoken directly to the President and Roslin was taken aback by the vehemence and sincerity in the tone the blonde woman had uttered the threat with. Roslin's hand dropped to her side immediately.

"It's all right, Seven."

Janeway's voice and her gentle hand on Seven's forearm did nothing to lessen the glint in the blonde's eyes as they continued to be locked onto Roslin though Seven's stance did visibly relax.

"Captain, we are dying out here. The only way my people can survive is if we get to Earth." Roslin made sure her hands were firmly clasped in front of her. She knew the blonde's threat was probably more like a promise. "We will give you the FTL drive technology if you give us the coordinates to Earth. You can go home. And we'll be able to build a new one."

A war waged within Kathryn Janeway. If she were to help these people not only to assist these wayward humans but also her own crew it would go against everything she had been taught as a Starfleet officer. It would certainly be going against the Prime Directive and it would also be against her own principles. But how many times in the past six years has her refusal to override her own principles cost her crew the chance to get home. On the other hand, she saw what happened to captains who lost their principles.

What would these people do on Earth? Within the Federation? Would they join Starfleet? Or perhaps they would just be given a recently terra-formed moon somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant. Janeway maintained the suspicion that something wasn't quite congruent. A propulsion system that worked on a principle Federation scientists have only theorized about coupled with a spaceship that lacked any networked computer system and only the most basic of technologies. Something had happened in these people's history that stumped their advancement. Janeway considered all she knew about these people and realized abruptly what exactly had happened.

"They turned on you. The Cylons." Janeway's stormy gray eyes swept over Adama's quarters. Books that smelled of age, papers piled and strewn about, communication array ancient. Everything spoke of a distancing of man and machine. "They're a race of artificial intelligence. Ones you created. That's why your technology is so outmoded."

Janeway's tone wasn't so much accusatory as it was explanatory. It was as if she was merely working through a mathematical problem and solved it.

"How did you know that?" Adama could think of nothing said over the wire that would have even alluded to that much information regarding the Cylons.

"Call it… intuition." One that has just been proven, Janeway thought as she looked at the look of contrition on the Admiral's weathered features.

"Well, you're right, Captain." Roslin felt something akin to shame, but she brushed it off as her voice became hard. "The mistake we made in creating the Cylons has cost us billions of lives. Our worlds have been destroyed. I'd say we've paid our price. Wouldn't you?"

"I'm not here to judge you or your people, Madam President. And I do sympathize with your situation. But the facts are these, even if I did give you the coordinates to Earth the Federation would never allow your people to settle on it. In order to even be allowed into the Sector your government would have to gain membership into the United Federation of Planets. And you might technically satisfy the first requirement. You do have the capability of faster-than-light space travel, but you wouldn't be able to meet the other two requirements."

"And what the hell are those?"

Janeway almost smiled as her charm had obviously worn off considering the aggressive tone Colonel Tigh now employed.

"Colonel." Roslin's voice was soft, but firm, a warning. "Captain, what requirements have we not satisfied?"

"Your government has not achieved stable planetary political unity." Janeway decided she would need to say the next part very carefully. It would no doubt be met negatively. "You have an internal conflict that has not yet been rectified and until it is to the satisfaction of Federation law you would never be able to gain membership. You and the Cylons must reach a peace accord before a petition could even be rendered."

"Captain, we had a peace accord. _We_ maintained it for forty years." Adama's eyes narrowed dangerously though his voice never rose to anything but a low, rumbling whisper. "It was the Cylons that broke it by nuking us."

Janeway's response was prevented by the sudden sound of what were unmistakably this vessel's alarm klaxons. She followed closely behind the President as Adama and Tigh led the charge while her crew maintained the circle of protection.

Lieutenant Gaeta ended the condition alert when Adama, Tigh, the President and the _Voyager_ crew entered CIC. Gaeta's eyes focused on his Admiral. "It's a heavy raider, Sir. It's already jumped away."

"Alert the Fleet." While he gave the order to Dualla, Adama continued to watch the DRADIS for any sign of Cylon contacts. "We'll make the jump in fifteen seconds. Count us down."

"Admiral, my crew and I need to return to our ship. Now." Captain Janeway's voice had the sharpness of a person not easily denied.

"There's no time." Adama didn't bother to look at the Captain, his eyes were fixed on the countdown that seemed interminably slow. "I suggest you and your crew find something to hold on to."

Janeway knew a dismissal when she heard one and part of her was thankful that they would get out of this blunder unscathed, for the most part. She shook off her feelings of failure to these people as she gathered her crew quickly around her.

"Janeway to _Voyager_."

"_Voyager_ here, Captain."

Chakotay's calm, even voice was a relief to the Captain. She never wanted to be back on _Voyager_ more in her life than at this very moment.

"Six for transport. And then the _Baxial_ needs to be transported to the Shuttlebay." Janeway darted her eyes to take in the countdown displayed on the large monitor that dropped from the ceiling. Eight seconds remained. "And, Commander, do it quickly."

"Aye, Captain."

After Tom and Harry had been transported, Janeway knew something was wrong. Theirs had been a somewhat difficult transport. Jurot and Biessman's proved to task the angular confinement field until they too vanished in a sparkle of blue.

_Of course_, Janeway thought with a large dose of irritation mixed with a feeling of déjà vu. It seemed that too often it was her and Seven who were always the last to be transported. Just as the countdown dropped to two seconds remaining Janeway felt herself being pulled apart, but it wasn't her only, it was the entirety of the ship. When she realized the difference she thought "of course" once again, for she was sure that she and Seven would find themselves in this vessel's brig.

CHAPTER 3

"Take them to the Brig."

After having delivered her order, Laura Roslin, President of the Thirteenth Colonies of Kobol, stood abruptly from her crouched position as she observed the two women she had just made up her mind that they were in fact quite unconscious. The President thought perhaps the Gods themselves were blessing her for the Captain and her apparent bodyguard had not been whisked mysteriously away as had the other members of Captain Janeway's entourage.

A group of six marines picked up the two unconscious women and made their way through the CIC with the Admiral and the President following closely behind.

The marines placed the blonde haired woman roughly onto the bed of the holding cell. They had more easily managed the weight of the petite auburn haired woman and she was laid on the cot in the adjacent cell. The men and women in black didn't need to be ordered by the Admiral to search the prisoners for weapons. A curved gray and black weapon was found on the blonde but none were found on the Captain. The two women's outer tunics were then removed.

"Admiral?" One of the marines lifted the right arm of the unconscious blonde. It revealed a small triangular device.

"Remove it." Admiral Adama's voice had been calm, but his expression nearly faltered when the silver machine was removed. "Shackle that… thing."

Roslin, against her better judgment perhaps, moved closer to the cell that held the imposing blonde whose imbedded pieces of metal were just revealed to them. The starburst next to her right ear, a crescent shaped device covered her left eyebrow, and the most disturbing were the large pieces of metal that sprouted from her right bicep and wrapped around her wrist and hand.

"What the Gods is she?" The President's large green eyes found the Admiral with a look of disgust on her face.

"Not human." And that was enough for Adama to order leg restraints on both the blonde and the Captain who had lied to them all. "Search their vessel. Take the Gods damned thing apart if need be."

After the cells were secured, the marines filed out leaving only the Admiral and his President.

Roslin's eyes were locked onto the unconscious form of Captain Janeway, her voice icy. "This complicates things, hmm, Admiral."

"Captain?"

Janeway groaned deeply, painfully. She would have lifted her hands to her throbbing head if she had been able to. The metal restraints that bound her wrist together made the move impossible. With another deep groan she lifted herself into a seated position on the gray bunk and her aching back pressed against the paneled wall. Slowly Janeway opened her eyes to take in her surroundings.

"Of course." Janeway's voice was hoarse, she licked her lips, but the dryness in her mouth did little to alleviate her parched lips. Very carefully she turned her head so that she could look directly at her cellmate.

"Seven? Are you all right?" Janeway's eyes surveyed Seven's form for any injury, but aside from a few strands of blonde hair that had managed to escape from the tightly coiled French twist Seven didn't look any worse for wear. The Captain, however, felt like she had just been run over by a pride of Targs.

"Yes, Captain." Seven, who was also bound at the wrists and ankles, walked somewhat ungracefully to the connecting bars. "I have not been harmed."

For anyone else Janeway would have thought the rigid posture would be quite uncomfortable, but Seven looked more annoyed than pained. Janeway was much more than just annoyed and pained by their current position, she was also very afraid. The Doctor's mobile emitter that had concealed Seven's silver implants leftover from her twenty-two years as a Borg drone had been taken away and now those implants were exposed. Seven had also been stripped of the thick protective tunic she had been wearing as part of the elite force sent to protect Captain Janeway after Seven had insisted that she take Munro's spot so to better analyze the antiquated vessel's technological capabilities. The thick gray tank top Seven wore exposed the large implant that emerged from her right bicep and skittered down her arm.

"What happened?" With some effort Janeway pulled herself up to her feet before she also moved slowly to the bars that separated her cell from Seven's.

"You have been damaged." Seven swallowed against the anger she felt as she looked upon her Captain's bruised and bloodied countenance.

"It's just a scratch." The gash on her forehead that ran from her hairline down across her left eyebrow and which bled on to her cheek was not the only injury Janeway had. Her right side was extremely tender and she wondered if perhaps she had bruised her ribs.

Seven decided now would not be an opportune time to disagree so instead she answered the Captain's question. "After the rest of the away team had transported to _Voyager_ the _Galactic_ initiated their 'jump' which interfered with our transport. The transporter malfunction rendered us unconscious for twenty-four point three minutes. I woke you seven seconds after I regained consciousness."

"And now we're trussed up like turkeys." Janeway snorted ruefully before her eyes narrowed and her voice was firm. "Seven, you mustn't tell these people where Earth is. No matter what happens, they can't know."

"Do you doubt the lengths these people will go to extrapolate that data?"

"They're still human." Janeway snorted once again though this time it was due to disbelief. "I'm sure they can still be reasoned with."

"As you did with Ransom?" It hadn't meant to be offensive but Seven could clearly see that the question hurt Janeway immensely and regretted her utterance though it was in truth. Seven had seen what humans were capable of inflicting upon another human being.

Janeway's impenetrable mask of command erased any hurt or remorse that she might have let slip when she had felt the critical words like a slap in the face, instead she looked resilient and unassailable. "Do not tell them anything that could lead them to Earth, Seven, that's an order."

A muscle jumped in Seven's jaw right below the starburst implant, her icy blue eyes grew even colder as they narrowed, and her voice was tight as she answered in the only way she knew the other women would find acceptable. "Yes, Captain."

A sinking, cold feeling settled itself firmly in Seven's lower abdomen and tenseness assailed her upper back. The soft hairs at the nape of her neck stood away from her pale skin as she felt the inexplicable sensation that she knew something undesirable was to come her way. She wondered if this was intuition and decided it was most unhelpful.

"We couldn't even access the communications array, Sir." Chief Tyrol stood with his hands on his waist. He shook his head in frustration. The ship had been easy enough to get into. But the computer system onboard was locked down beyond Tyrol's crew's capabilities.

"Secure the vessel. Keep trying. That's all, Chief." Admiral Adama placed the report on his desk with a semblance of disgust that didn't show in his expression.

"Sir." Tyrol nodded before he departed and passed by Baltar on his way out of the Admiral's quarters.

"You wanted to see me, Admiral." As usual Doctor Baltar's eyes were wide and skittered about the room.

"Doctor." Roslin had to hold back the wave of disgust she always had when in the presence of this man and although she had a smile it was not pleasant. "We need you to examine two prisoners. And Doctor, they may be extremely dangerous. You'll have a marine escort during your examinations."

"Uh… is she, uh, are they… Cylon?" Baltar had the sudden overwhelming fear that it was another Six. This one not so beneficial to him.

"We don't know yet, Doctor." Her voice became slow and smooth. "That's why you're going to examine them."

Baltar's eyes shifted back and forth between the Admiral and the President before he abruptly realized he was to go now. He walked nervously out of the living quarters and jumped when two marines met him in the hallway before the door sealed behind him.

"I really don't like that man." Laura's voice never lost its lilt, but her eyes narrowed before she looked to the Admiral who merely nodded his head in agreement.

Baltar's eyes shifted behind him to the two marines as he walked anxiously to the Brig. He wasn't sure of what he would find when the door unsealed. After he entered the brig he looked to his escorts, but found no explanation in their impassivity.

One cell held a voluptuous blonde woman not unlike his Six though it was the pieces of glinting metal that adorned her that caught his gaze the most. The blonde's icy glare made him release his stare to shift to the occupant in the adjacent cell.

The petite auburn haired woman looked upon him with suspicion, which he was used to but there was also something else there too in those stormy gray eyes. Hope. It was odd to see that light in this stranger's eyes, but there it was just the same.

"You can use that glimmer to your advantage." Six's seductive breath tickled his neck but Baltar tried mightily to not allow anything to outwardly show. He looked at the tall blonde prisoner and abruptly jumped when her laser gaze shifted from him to above his left shoulder.

He looked quickly at Six whose usual smile had vanished altogether. He watched as the two blondes sized one another up. Baltar was more surprised when Six was the first to look away. The doctor jumped in surprise again when the auburn haired woman in the cell over spoke.

"Seven?" Janeway's eyes looked from her crewmember to where those icy eyes were locked onto. Empty air to the left of this skittish man in the well worn suit and tie.

"Uh." Baltar not only stumbled with his words but also his steps as he approached the two cells apprehensively. "I'm, my name is Gaius Baltar, Doctor Baltar, I'm here to… examine you."

"Examine us? For what?"

Again Baltar's eyes were pulled away from the blonde prisoner to her commanding companion. "Uh, yes, the… President and Admiral want to make sure you aren't…"

"We're not Cylons."

"And I would tend to believe you but you see… the uh, implants have them a bit… concerned." Baltar glanced quickly at the blonde but she was not looking his way at all. And his Six was uncharacteristically silent beside him.

Captain Janeway sensed something in this man. As did Seven apparently. She would have to speak to Seven about that when they were alone again. Her voice brought Baltar's attention back to her. "I want to speak with the Admiral and the President."

"I—I'm sure that can be arranged, but I really must uh insist you come with me." Baltar jumped again when the clanking of raised guns sounded in the small room.

Janeway heard the clanking of ammunitions within the raised rifles. She looked at Seven who finally returned the look. "We'll go peacefully. Resistance is as they say futile."

While guns were trained on the prisoners the cells were unlocked and the two women were shuffled out by a pair of marines for both of them.

Baltar was shocked when the auburn haired woman walked purposely into his personal space. Her warm breath was close enough to brush across his chin and neck. Her voice was soft, steely, and resolved. "If you do anything to harm Seven, Doctor Baltar, I assure you you'll regret it."

He swallowed soundly for he believed her and those steel gray eyes that had frozen him in place before the pair of marines maneuvered her out of the brig.

"Gaius, listen to me. You must find a way to keep Seven out of the brig."

Baltar quickly looked to where Six had just spoken but she was no longer there. But for the first time since his visions of her he felt a sense of relief. Six wasn't just in his head. The strange woman referred to as Seven saw her as well. He looked to where the blonde woman was being led through the cleared out hallways and found her with a knowing look in her eyes. Baltar realized with a start that Seven had heard Six's instructions to him and acknowledged them as sound.

"Seal the door." Baltar felt a wave of comfort wash over him in the familiarity of his lab. He watched the marines doing as he instructed and had to feel smug about how easily they listened to his commands. He smiled gently as he gestured the two women to chairs that lined his work area.

Baltar's eyes took in the six marines and ordered their attention with unusual authority in his voice. "I don't think the shackles are really necessary."

Captain Janeway rubbed the ache away from her wrists and was relieved when the men in black also removed Seven's handcuffs. "Thank you, Doctor."

"We are in a secured location after all. No reason to have you uncomfortable unnecessarily uh…"

"Captain Janeway." She let a gentle hand rest on Seven's shoulder to offer both comfort and strength. "This is Seven."

"An unusual name." Baltar watched with interest when Seven's expression transformed from a cold hardness to a look of immeasurable softness. But it was only for a split second. If Baltar wasn't such an observant man he might have missed how the icy blue eyes had warmed when they were fixed on this Captain Janeway. The moment was gone and he was startled when those eyes reverted back to coldness and landed on him.

"I—I'll need to take a blood sample from you both." Baltar cleared his throat as he removed two hypodermic needles from his supply drawer as well as two syringes. He was surprised to see a rather bemused expression on Captain Janeway's elegant features. "Uh… you, please come here."

The marine did as he was ordered and if he was offended by the way Baltar grabbed his wrist he didn't show it. Baltar explained to the stony faced marine. "I need a control blood sample."

The marine looked steadily at Baltar before he rolled up his sleeve and offered the inside of his arm. The doctor used a small gauze to sterilize the area above the raised vein. The marine for the most part didn't flinch when the needle entered. It only took a moment for the syringe to fill with dark red blood.

"I will not allow you to puncture the Captain's skin and vein with a crude device."

If Baltar had thought that this Seven and his Six were similar the blonde woman before him rejected that notion. Whereas Six exuded sexuality this woman with her alluring curves and attractive features held nothing in her voice or her physicality that bespoke anything but coldness towards anyone but Captain Janeway.

"Seven, before we can proceed they need to ascertain that we aren't Cylons." Janeway's reassurance warmed her tone and was in the gentle grasp she held on the woman's forearm. Needles though, honestly it was like stone knives and bearskins, what was next? Leeches?

Baltar sighed heavily in relief as the Captain extended her right arm out to him. Her eyes watched his movements carefully though and there was an aura of warning and barely contained energy as if this diminutive woman could attack at any time. Seven was less demonstrative but he assumed the same was for her for she too watched his move very carefully.

Janeway was relieved when the procedure was over for both her and Seven as she held a small gauze to the puncture in the inside of her arm. She could just imagine what the Doctor would have to say when he read her report.

"We'll have the tests back in eleven hours." Baltar already knew what the results would be. Green, as they always were. But what he didn't tell anyone was that he was going to perform the actual test first. If Seven wasn't a Cylon then his scientific curiosity would force him to discover what exactly she was.

As Janeway stood abruptly guns lifted from the marines present and it took her a moment to realize that her ordering them to put their guns down didn't work as well as it usually did. "We've been cooperative thus far with this… testing. I want to speak to President Roslin and Admiral Adama. Now."

Baltar already liked this Captain Janeway. She was a woman of passion, of authority, of getting things the way she wanted. He enjoyed women of power. And he so wish he could be a fly on the bulkhead when the Captain got what she wanted. Which observing the marines wouldn't be long.

"She's not going to tell us what we want to know. Is she?" Roslin brought the strong drink up to her lips. It burned on its way down and she had to clench her teeth in order not to cough.

"She might not, but her crew could be persuaded to." Admiral Adama also had a drink in hand though he was much better in hiding the effects of the strong alcohol's taste.

"Are you talking about holding Captain Janeway up for ransom?" Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama's voice was one of complete opposition despite knowing full well what the stakes were.

"We don't even know where the hell her ship is." Saul Tigh poured himself another generous portion from the Admiral's bottle. "Nothing's on the DRADIS."

"Yet. Their technology is obviously superior to ours. I'm sure it'll only be a matter of time before they find us." Roslin didn't like the idea of holding a person up for ransom, but if Captain Janeway couldn't be persuaded to give up the location Earth before her vessel found them then it could possibly come to that. "What would convince you, Admiral?"

"To give up the whereabouts of a safe haven to a possibly hostile group." Adama took a large drink from his glass tumbler. "Nothing."

Roslin knew she had expected that as the answer but she shook her head in frustration any ways. "Is there any more luck on cracking the computer onboard their ship?"

"It's sealed tight." Apollo crossed his arms over his broad chest. "Chief can't get a handle on it."

The churning of the wireless sounded in the Admiral's quarters. "Go ahead."

Roslin watched as Bill answered with one word "fine" before he hung up the handset. He took his seat across from her once again before he explained with narrowed eyes. "Captain Janeway demands an audience with the President and Admiral."

"I'll just bet she does." Tigh grunted as he downed the rest of the contents in his glass before he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"We need a game plan here, gentlemen." Roslin had seen with her own eyes how affecting Janeway's commanding presence and authoritative voice was to these men and it wouldn't do for them to take their eyes off the mission.

"What if we took her around the Fleet?" Lee's voice was entreating as was his expression which had turned earnest and hopeful. "She could see how we live. That we're not some barbaric society. How we need a place to settle."

"You think you're gonna win her over with some sob story, Captain?" Tigh derisive grunt displayed his opinion of the idea but he couldn't deter the idealistic young Adama.

"Do you think you'll get anywhere with her or her people if you hold her like a criminal?" Lee Adama had never met Captain Janeway, but he couldn't think the woman would be immune to the suffering yet hopeful Colonials.

"Let's give it a shot." The President's words were nearly cut off by the announcement at the door.

Although she was forced to shuffle into the room due to the leg restraints that were connected by a long chain of metal to her handcuffs, Captain Janeway still looked as dignified as she had when exiting her ship in the hanger bay. Roslin couldn't help but be annoyed by that composure.

Lee Adama pulled out a chair for the chained woman as he smiled what he hoped was a comforting expression. The blue-gray eyes that were fixed on him made his smile falter. She seemed to be looking straight into him and seeing something not altogether good because her eyes narrowed even as she took the proffered chair.

"Take the shackles off." Lee motioned to the trio of marines and was grateful when no one objected. He figured Captain Janeway would be much more easily convinced of the goodness of the Fleet if she weren't chained up.

"Release me and my crewmate and let us return to our ship." Janeway's voice dropped to her coldest register as she looked pointedly at the President before she turned her stare to lock onto the Admiral. "You have no right to hold us against our will."

"What exactly is… Seven is it?" Unlike Captain Janeway's voice, Roslin's got louder, more demanding, and superior in its demands.

"She's not a Cylon nor is she a threat to you." Janeway didn't flinch in surprise as a glass of water was placed in front of her and another glass was poured before Lee took long drinks from it. She took tentative sips from the glass despite the man's display that it wasn't poisoned or drugged. "Thank you."

"Then what is she?" Roslin thought if she could get this one answer from the Captain she could get a lot more but the stubborn woman before her merely narrowed her eyes.

"She's a human being, that's all I can say about the matter. And that's not why we're being held as prisoners, Madam President." Janeway slowly crossed one leg over the other and pretended to be unaffected by the soreness in her side. "So let's cut to the chase shall we? I cannot and will not give you the coordinates to Earth."

"What right do you have to prevent us from finding our Thirteenth Colony, Captain?" Roslin's frustration was beginning to give her a headache and thus she removed her glasses to rub the bridge of her nose.

"The rights given to me by the governing body you would have to appeal to just to get within a hundred parsecs of Earth." Janeway already knew that these… Colonials would never be allowed into the Federation, especially not while they were still at war with the Cylons.

"Captain Janeway, I'm Captain Lee Adama…"

Janeway's eyes found the Admiral's and a look of understanding flitted across her features before she turned back to Lee. "Of course you are, Captain."

"Our people are dying out here every day. We're refugees seeking a safe harbor. Can you truly object to that?" Captain Adama was disappointed when Janeway expression remained impassive.

"I… sympathize with the situation of your people, Captain Adama, but it doesn't change the fact that by law I cannot reveal the location of Earth to you." She was truly sorry to see the glimmer of hope fade in the young man's eyes, but she wasn't going to be bullied nor was she going to be made to feel guilty.

"Maybe if you saw, with your own eyes, the suffering of the people you would understand that we are all that's left of the human race. And we're becoming extinct." Lee Adama was feeling frustrated and disillusioned by this woman. He was disappointed in himself that his plan wasn't working.

"I offer supplies: food, medicine, clothing. I would even help you find a hospitable planet to settle on but I cannot break the rules of _my_ people, Captain." Janeway had been up against greater threats than these people posed and would not allow herself to be intimidated or swayed. "My decision was made long before entreaties from you."

"Forty-nine thousand five hundred and ninety survivors of a race that had totaled at twenty billion, Captain." Roslin's voice took on a slow, explanatory tone as if she were speaking to a not altogether bright child. "More and more of us are killed every day we're out here. The Cylons will continue to hunt us down until we're all dead. Can you live with yourself knowing you've doomed nearly fifty thousand men, women, and children to their deaths?"

"With all due respect I have already told you that I will help you in any way that I can. But I will not give you the coordinates to Earth." The sharpness in Janeway's tone bespoke her objection of how the picture was being painted. Nor did she approve of how a semblance of guilt began to form in the pit of her stomach.

"I'm afraid that's not good enough." Laura Roslin stood from the table irritation at the obstinate woman before her colored her tone.

"It will have to be." When Janeway stood from the table she didn't take her steely eyes off the President nor did she flinch when the marines' guns were once again pointed at her. "Release us to our vessel."

"You're in no position to give us orders." Admiral Adama observed Captain Janeway closely. If President Roslin thought they could get this intractable woman to submit to their will he knew they would need more than words that were supposed to engender sympathy or guilt. He figured there would be only two reasons why Captain Janeway would ever surrender the information to them. Adama wondered how far Roslin would actually go. And also what he should suggest.

"True, Admiral." Slim hands rested on her hips as Janeway raised her head defiantly. "For now."

"Take her back to the Brig." President Roslin didn't like the power struggle transpiring between Adama and Janeway for she thought herself the only one in the true position of superiority. "Perhaps her crewmate will be more forthcoming."

Something akin to concern flashed across Janeway's expression before the mask of impassivity was firmly in place. Roslin had seen it though and knew she could use it to their advantage if this captain would not budge. How far she would go Roslin wasn't sure yet.

"Seven won't tell you anything either." Janeway felt icy fear clench her heart at the thought of what Seven could be made to suffer through. What the woman had just so recently suffered through at the hands of human beings.

"We'll see." Roslin watched as the marines re-shackled the woman before her though Janeway's eyes never drifted from her glare on the President. "Some of Doctor Baltar's tests can be… invasive. I wouldn't want Seven to be harmed."

Janeway was an expert Poker player and she knew full well that Roslin was bluffing. Despite this awareness she still felt fury rise hot within her at the very notion of these people making a threat on Seven. "And you wonder why I won't tell you where Earth is, Madam President."

Roslin was taken aback by the sheer disgust the other woman's expression had held before Janeway turned away from the table. The captain marched to the door followed by her marine escorts as if she were the one in charge despite the metal restraints. The soldier garbed in all black had the sense to open the heavy metal door for Captain Janeway and followed the rest of the entourage out of Admiral Adama's quarters.

The President drank the rest of the contents of her glass before she turned to the admiral. "I would like to see Seven in the interrogation room."

PART II

CHAPTER 4

"Right then. Do you want to tell me what exactly you are?" Baltar tried not to let his eyes drift to where Six was leaning in next to him to also examine the inscrutable Seven closely. The slight lift of the metallic implant over Seven's left eyes was the only indication of discomfort at being scrutinized so intensely.

"No."

"Well great then." Baltar sighed in frustration. He leaned in closer so as not to be overheard by the marines stationed in his lab. "I don't know if you realize the severity of the situation you and your captain have found yourselves in."

"I understand perfectly."

"I could help you." With his hands clasped tightly together on the table, his eyes wide as they shifted from Seven to the marines at the door. "I don't believe you're a Cylon. No, no you're something else entirely. Aren't you?"

"Yes."

Seven's expression, if it could be called that, never altered from complete impassivity and it was starting to agitate Baltar. As were the two marines guarding the door of his small laboratory. Suddenly he stood. His head held high and with what he hoped was an authoritative voice he ordered the two marines from his lab. His excuse being that he had to do more extensive tests on the prisoner and privacy for captives was still law.

Baltar probably wouldn't have been reassured if he had known the marines had complied more due to their indifference to whether the odd woman would attack Baltar or not. So they exited the lab and took their stations outside the heavy metal door.

"Alone at last." Baltar smiled lightly as he took in the two women seated across from one another.

"How can you see me?" Six's questioning blue eyes were held fast by the icy gaze of Seven.

"Yes, how can you see her?" Baltar seated himself next to Six and soon realized neither of the blondes had eyes for him.

"My ocular implant can detect irregularities in space-time." Seven wondered if that was a breach of the protocol Captain Janeway had set up. She decided information regarding her Borg implants wasn't in any way compromising Earth's position. Also irrelevant discourse would allow her to be in these people's presence long enough to formulate an escape for her and the Captain.

"You're an irregularity in space-time?" Baltar was surprised to see Six with an aghast look on her features. "Here I thought I was just crazy. Nice to know I'm not I suppose."

"I'm not an irregularity. I'm a spirit sent by God." Six's voice and expression lacked the earnestness she so wanted to feel.

"Acknowledged. However, if I had access to the right equipment I could render you tangible." Seven's voice hinted at nothing that would betray her intention of retrieving one of the confiscated phasers.

"Really?" Baltar wasn't so sure how that would be beneficial for him. Actually it wouldn't be at all. How would he explain Six's presence especially since her face was on record thanks to Shelley Godfrey. "Uh, let's get back to you and your… ocular implant did you say?"

"Our Doctor installed it after I was… brought to our vessel."

"Yes, but why? What happened to your eye? And where were you before you were brought to… _Voyager_ is it?" Baltar settled back into his seat feeling more confident than he had when this whole thing started. He now knew he wasn't crazy. That was something. "I'm sorry to say that it is a bit strange to find an unknown spaceship with humans way out here."

"But you aren't human." Six felt something akin to sisterhood in this other partially cybernetic being. Odd to feel this kinship outside of her model and the rest of the Cylons but she felt it all the same. "Not entirely anyway. But you'd like to be. You want to be. As I have wanted to be. I know why I want to be human. Do you know why you strive for imperfection? I wonder if it's the same reason I do."

Baltar was taken aback when a small muscle jumped in Seven's jaw and continued to do so for several more seconds before Seven looked away from the duo. It was the most emotion he had ever seen from the icy woman and he wondered at what part of the vague description Six had just spouted would cause such a reaction.

"Did I miss something?" Baltar looked at each woman in turn and knew without a doubt that he certainly had. Something unspoken was passing between them and he felt almost intrusive for being present during the exchange.

"Your reason is the same as mine." Six smiled brightly. She didn't particularly care what Seven was at this point for she knew what the woman wanted to be. And how Seven could help her in her quest for humanity as well. Sisters. Near perfect in their design. In love. With fallible humans. It was poetic, Six supposed.

"What reason? What are you talking about?" Baltar was summarily quieted when Six took his head between her powerful hands and proceeded to assault his mouth with her own. She bit his bottom lip before she retreated.

Six smiled again as she presented Seven with an all-knowing look. "It's worth it. All the pain and confusion. In the end it's worth it."

Finally pulling himself out of a daze of heavy arousal, Baltar straightened abruptly with some modicum of good taste but found it to be unnecessary since neither woman was paying him much attention.

"You stated that you could help me." Seven ignored the fact that the agitation she was feeling so strongly could be so easily read. She had a mission that needed to be completed efficiently, for her sake and more importantly for Captain Janeway's.

"Did I say that? Yes, what I meant was… I want to help you. I do. I'm—I just don't know how. Just yet. I'm working on it. We'll be working on it." The close-lipped smile Baltar adopted was one he thought was reassuring to people. He might be surprised to know that it was not. It merely made him look disingenuous.

"I require access to our ship. If that is arranged then Captain Janeway and I can make our escape." Seven wanted nothing more than to get her captain safely off this vessel.

Seven didn't feel altogether comfortable with the fact that she hadn't been allowed to accompany Captain Janeway to Admiral Adama's quarters for a meeting with him and the President. President Roslin, above all others onboard this vessel, made Seven's skin tingle with a feeling of dread. She could see similarities between Roslin and Ransom. Seven was not so trusting as her Captain for she suspected Roslin would go to great lengths to get what she wanted. Seven did not fear for herself, but what it would do to Captain Janeway if she was subjected to what Seven had so recently experienced. Torture by the hands of humans. Seven regretted how easily she had succumbed to the Captain's orders. She wondered if Janeway would ever forgive her if she recanted. If it meant her Captain could leave this vessel unharmed Seven thought perhaps she could live with the consequences of that breach.

"Well, I'm not sure if you've noticed but you're under heavy guard." Baltar leaned in close and whispered though both were unnecessary, but it made him feel better. His eyes moved from the sealed door to Seven's cool features.

"Hit him."

Both Baltar and Seven looked quickly at Six who had a sure expression and a smile to her lips.

"What?" Baltar stood from his chair suddenly not feeling too comfortable being within striking distance of Seven. He almost called the marines back in.

"If you are not damaged they will suspect you of assisting me." Seven stood smoothly from the table only to be stopped by the noise of the door to the lab being opened.

A mixture of relief and apprehension filled Baltar when Admiral Adama and the two marines entered his laboratory. The relief dimmed when Adama's glare fixed on him.

"Doctor, have you found anything?"

"Uh, well, actually as you know the results of the test won't be available for another ten hours." Fidgeting under the scrutiny of the Admiral, Six, and Seven Baltar tried not to sweat too much. "But I would suggest that Seven is in fact not a Cylon. She has artificial components. Implants. The Cylons that we've seen have been completely organic… synthesized organic that is. I certainly don't think she's a security risk."

"The President would disagree with you on that." Adama shifted his attention to the now shackled woman. Her cool gaze was fixed upon him and he had the distinct impression that he was being analyzed. Baltar might be right that she isn't a Cylon, but human… she wasn't that either.

"Would she?" Baltar could have been the President if he hadn't saved Roslin's life. His need to preserve the Cylon/human hybrid had forced his hand. He had cured Roslin of her terminal cancer and now he was Vice President in title only because he surely didn't have any real power.

"Where are they taking her?" Six's voice was difficult to ignore since her lips were brushing his right ear.

"Uh, where is she being taken?" Baltar tried to calm himself by taking a slow breath, but it only made him that much more anxious since when he opened his eyes all gazes were upon him. "It's just that… I still have tests to perform."

"It will have to wait. The President wants to speak with the prisoner." Adama left the lab first quickly followed by the marines and the bound Seven.

"Baltar."

"Yes, what is it?" Frustrated with his lousy lot he fell into his chair in an overburdened heap.

"She could change everything."

CHAPTER 5

The clank of antiquated metal bars resounded in the brig when one of the marines opened what was to be her cell for the duration of this situation. Janeway looked to the heavily armed group, three men and one woman, and weighed her options. She could take down one easily, perhaps even two, it would be the remaining two guards that would give her trouble. Janeway doubted their weapons had a stun setting.

Two rifles were pointed directly at her back as Janeway was ushered into the small cell. The fact that she wasn't unshackled after they locked her in either indicated their concern that she was a significant threat or that it was Roslin's doing, retaliation for Janeway's stubbornness.

Janeway settled herself onto the bunk as gracefully as she could manage while being so tightly restrained. She heard the opening of the outer chamber door, but did not look up to watch the marines depart. She didn't want to see their human faces look upon her as nothing more than a captive. A dangerous one.

When she had exited the Baxial and been greeted by a large contingent of humans, Janeway had felt exhilarated and so very curious. Her keen intellect sized up the leaders of the space-faring colony easily. First Admiral Adama, the hardened military man with his gruff voice and weathered features. He had been so impassive upon meeting her that Janeway knew for certain that he had wanted nothing better than to leave her mysterious ship and move on. Then there was Adama's trusty XO. Colonel Tigh was a man who could be courted by power and sincerity. And by femininity it would seem. The Captain had also smelled an odor that denoted a man who liked seeing the bottom of a liquor bottle as well.

And finally and most dangerous was the President. Laura Roslin was a dark mystery to her. Most politicians were. Though there had been something in the way Roslin had been caught off guard when Janeway had smiled at her that seemed to suggest politics wasn't where the other woman was most skilled. Roslin's smile had been hesitant after the expression of initial shock had worn off and the handshake she had delivered displayed a rather gentle greeting. Adama and Tigh Janeway knew. They were soldiers, much in the same way she was or used to be before she was a captain. A soldier President Roslin most certainly was not. The President knew nothing of how to manage a starship captain not under the control of the local governing body. Making threats against one's crew was not the way into a captain's good graces. There were only two ways Janeway could discern that would ever make her give up the whereabouts to Earth. She doubted this antiquated vessel had an engram reader. So that only left the Colonials with one option. Drugs. Janeway was never more grateful that Seven's nanoprobe enhanced body would immediately reject intrusive chemicals than she was at this moment.

Janeway thought of the threat Roslin had made on Seven. It had been voiced to rattle Janeway's composure. To make her think of the torture her crewmate could suffer. Fear was supposed to rip through Janeway's defenses. Janeway hadn't felt the extent of fear wanted. What she had felt was disgust. That feeling made her even more determined that these people would never find her beloved Earth.

Earth. If she could retrieve the FTL drive technology she could possibly bring _Voyager_ home almost immediately. But how would she obtain it without an armed conflict? She knew _Voyager_ could easily destroy the entire fleet with a few photon torpedoes. They could lock onto _Galactica's_ engine before the destruction. She wondered how even a mild battle to retrieve it would make her better than the Colonials. In short it wouldn't.

The point was moot anyway. She had no idea how far away _Voyager_ was or if they could even track the fleet of ships. She needed to recover Seven and get to the _Baxial_. If she did that she would have access to navigation and figure out just how far their "jump" had taken them. She worried that it was far, that she and Seven would be irretrievable.

Seven. She should never have allowed Seven to be part of the away mission despite the ex-Borg's sound reasoning that she would be able to analyze much of the vessel since tricorders were restricted. She also knew part of the reason she had brought Seven along was to show her that all humans weren't selfish and corruptible. Not like Ransom.

Not like herself.

The recent events involving Ransom and his ship, the _Equinox_, had left Janeway deeply troubled regarding her own humanity or lack thereof. She would have allowed the nucleogenic alien into the Cargo Bay to wreak its revenge upon Noah Lessing if it hadn't been for Commander Chakotay's undermining of her decision. Despite their truce after the _Equinox_ was destroyed she still felt betrayed by Chakotay and ashamed by some of her own actions that perhaps had needed to be stopped.

"Is this really about Seven, or is it about Ransom."

Chakotay's voice had been so self-assured almost smug in her Ready Room three weeks ago. He hadn't been entirely wrong nor was he correct and she hadn't felt the need to correct him on his erroneous assumption either way. It had been about Ransom. It had also been about Seven. The Equinox crew kidnapped Seven and Janeway wasn't naïve enough to believe that the captive woman wasn't under great duress. Despite knowing what Ransom and his crew had subjected sentient beings, she hadn't expected what was in Seven's report after her return to Voyager.

Janeway had actually been relieved and a bit moved when Ransom had sacrificed himself and his ship. But after reading two separate accounts of what Ransom had subjected Seven to onboard his vessel, the painful dissection the she had undergone. What he had forced the Doctor to do to one of his closest friends. Janeway had felt extreme regret that she hadn't been the one to end Ransom's tainted life.

Seven. When had her feelings for Seven changed? When had she stopped thinking of Seven in a mentor/student capacity or even a mother/daughter one. If Janeway could be completely honest with herself she would be able to pinpoint almost the exact moment when she realized that her feelings for the former Borg drone had shifted from compassionate caring to one of deep affection. It had been when Seven had returned to the Borg under pressure from the Borg Queen herself. Janeway knew full well that she had risked everything to get Seven back.

Janeway had almost confessed her growing attraction, her need to have Seven in her life, and her desire for Seven to need Kathryn Janeway in hers as well. Alone together in that cavernous cargo bay lit ominously with the green glare of Borg alcoves, she had felt compelled to tell Seven that she was falling in love with her. But something had stopped her. Fear. She hadn't been ready then. The feelings were only so recently realized. And what if Seven didn't love her back? So, the stalwart Captain, indomitable in strength and spirit, had been controlled by her fear. She hadn't told Seven what was contained in her heart. How the thought of losing the woman to the Borg had split her in two with the pain of it. How her heart thumped strongly in her chest and her fingers tingled at the sight of just the slightest smile on Seven's full lips. How Seven could both frustrate her and fill her with exhilaration when they would have their philosophical discussions. How often Seven would be in her thoughts throughout her day.

Kathryn Janeway was in love. And it scared the hell out of her.

She had only been contemplating her feelings for Seven while reclined on the bunk for fifteen minutes before the outer door of the brig was opened once again. Janeway thought perhaps she shouldn't be surprised at who entered, but it wasn't the person she wanted it to be. She had expected it to be Seven. She was worried that it wasn't. She supposed the man who walked towards her cage with a tray of food and a stack of clothes could also prove to be useful, especially if he continued to smile with boyish innocence at her. Janeway suddenly realized that's what they thought of her. Innocent. Naïve. Untainted. Pliable.

"Is it part of a captain's duty to bring a prisoner food and clothing?" Janeway stayed where she was on her bunk. She was soon rewarded with a nod from Lee Adama for a marine to undo her restraints.

"I thought you might be hungry." Lee looked at the woman with what he hoped was an open expression, one of kindness, generosity. He didn't think she looked too impressed. He watched as she held his friendly gaze with one an icy expression. What captured him most were her eyes. Stormy gray which hinted at impending danger on the horizon.

"Where's Seven?"

Her voice was a low mistrustful tone as her eyes narrowed all the more. Her rigid stance and the hard look she paid Lee wasn't exactly what he had expected. He tried to keep his voice neutral but he couldn't keep hesitation out of it.

"The President wanted to speak with her."

"Nothing unpleasant I hope." Janeway kept herself from rolling her eyes, but a sardonic pull of her lips and a derisive tone conveyed just what she thought about President Roslin.

Lee couldn't help but feel defensive of his President. She had made some hard decisions, near impossible ones. They all had. He thought he understood Roslin and why she did what she thought was necessary for the Fleet. "We're not barbarians."

"So you say." Janeway crossed her arms and calmed her own temper. Igniting Lee Adama's protectiveness of his President wasn't going to get her what she wanted. She relaxed her stance consciously as she watched him place the tray and clothing on the only piece of furniture in the small cell, the bed.

Janeway lowered herself gingerly to the bunk and had to admit she was hungry. She almost smiled when she saw no silverware. They apparently thought she was still a danger. Good, they should. Though the two armed marines stationed by the other door precluded her from making a move at the moment.

Lee pulled a metal chair into the cell opposite of where the bunk was, though since the cell was so small they were still only a few feet away. He watched her break bits of bread a part before she dipped it into the soup, and ate it slowly, delicately. Even with dark soot on her clothing and skin she still maintained an elegant, almost regal appearance.

"Was there something you wanted specifically, Captain Adama?" She smiled sardonically before she brought the metal cup to her lips. The liquid was bland, but warm. She drank the entire contents in a series of sips as she awaited his answer.

"Apollo."

"Excuse me?" The food already forgotten since Janeway's astonishment and curiosity foreshadowed every other thought.

"Captain Apollo." He smiled entreatingly. "Apollo's my callsign."

A surprised though pleasant smile graced Janeway's lips as her keen intellect took in this intriguing piece of information. "Has a nice ring to it."

It was Lee's turn to be surprised. "That's what I've been told."

"Tell me, Captain Apollo, are you a religious man?" Janeway's blue-gray eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, fascinated that this colony of humans would adopt the names of gods from ancient Greek mythology.

Lee tried not to shift in his seat. An almost tangible energy seemed to surround the woman and he wondered at her interest in his theological viewpoint. "I—well, I believe in the Gods but I wouldn't necessarily consider myself religious."

"I see." Janeway detected a semblance of uneasiness in the captain so she decided to forestall the inquisition. "You never answered my question. I'm sure a man of your position has more important things to do with your time than bring food and clothing to a prisoner."

"I want to show you the Fleet."

CHAPTER 6

Roslin's green eyes narrowed considerably as Seven was led by a quartet of marines into the small gray walled interrogation room. President Laura Roslin was seated at the metal table on one of the two matching chairs, the only pieces of furniture contained within.

Seven stood before the President with a lift to her cleft chin which displayed a rather haughty air. Her stance was rigid, which Roslin thought the woman would still possess even if she wasn't tightly bound by metal shackles. The President allowed her gaze to take in the physical features of Seven. She was gorgeous. The clear blue eyes, the full lips, the high cheekbones, and the alabaster smooth skin all combined to make a very lovely woman. The metallic pieces that adorned her face and the arrogant expression did nothing to detract from Seven's beauty. The tight gray and black clothing Seven wore fit her curvaceous body like a second skin. Roslin couldn't help but be horrified by prominent ridges around Seven's midsection. She suspected metal beneath caused the raises in the shirt.

"Would you like to sit?" Roslin composed herself as she removed her dark rimmed glasses. She attempted to keep her expression as open and nonaggressive as she could. Bill's presence behind her assisted her efforts greatly.

"I prefer to stand." To make her point, Seven's erect posture visibly stiffened even more.

"Please." Despite the entreating word, Roslin's tone was not at all accommodating. "Sit."

A small muscle below the metal starburst jumped before Seven complied. Even seated Seven's stance remained rigid. Her shackled wrists rested on top of the table which displayed the metal lacing Seven's left hand.

If what Captain Janeway had said was true and Seven was human then what were the purpose of these metal adornments, how did Seven obtain them, and why? Were they some sort of cybernetic augmentation? More importantly, were they dangerous?

"State your intentions."

Roslin smiled, it wasn't a particularly nice smile. Her voice was cold and hard. "I want the location of Earth. And I want to know what exactly you are."

"I am not Cylon as you believe."

"If I truly believed you were a Cylon I would have thrown you out an airlock already." Roslin's tone implied that throwing Seven out an airlock was still an option. "Now tell me what I want to know."

"No."

"There are ways to obtain information from prisoners." Roslin's voice never lost its ironic sweetness, but it did quiet into a whisper. "I would rather not have to resort to those methods."

"What you want is irrelevant." Seven had already endeavored to comply with her captain's orders in the one manner in which even she could not undo, especially under duress and without the Doctor's assistance. "I have encoded the location of Earth. Even if I were willing I would be unable to retrieve that knowledge."

"Encoded… like a computer." Roslin was almost relieved since it gave her one less prisoner to have to worry about. She wouldn't have to feel remorse in using Seven to get to the Captain. "So, Janeway did lie. You're not human. You're a machine."

"Incorrect. I am both." This tedious conversation began to annoy Seven greatly. These people's fear and prejudice against synthetic life-forms was obvious and she had no doubt that they would terminate her soon if she did not adequately explain her implants. If that were to happen she would not be able to protect the Captain.

"Care to explain that." Admiral Adama's voice rumbled with incredulity.

"I was born human. My name was Annika Hansen." Seven refrained from coloring her words with unnecessary emotion. The only feeling she let herself secretly experience was anger at what her parents had allowed to happen to the child that she had been. "My parents were xenobiologists who became obsessed with studying a race of cybernetically enhanced beings. The Borg. When I was eight years old an ion storm compromised our vessel's defenses. The Borg became aware of our… scrutiny. We were assimilated."

"Assimilated? What did this… assimilation entail?" Roslin watched with curiosity as Seven lifted her metal encased arm. The President uncharacteristically let out a high-pitched sound of surprise when two silver filaments sprung from the top of Seven's hand. Rifles lifted immediately, but since Seven kept her tubes to herself none of the marines fired.

"The Borg use assimilation tubules to pierce their victim's throat and inject nanoprobes directly into the bloodstream." Seven retracted the flexible threads of metal back into her hand. She studiously ignored the looks of disgust both the President and Adama paid her. "It is an extremely painful and efficient method to incapacitate an individual before complete assimilation can occur. Because I was a child I was placed in a maturation chamber for several cycles, which accelerated my growth. After I was released from the chamber my left eye was removed and my exoplating was attached. My neuropathways were resequenced. I became Borg. One with the hive mind."

Roslin was finding all this quite hard to believe, but she had to admit it was an intriguing story. And if it were true, it still didn't explain what Seven was doing here now. Captain Janeway certainly didn't look cybernetically enhanced. "You were brainwashed into becoming a member of these… Borg?"

"A neural transceiver was imbedded in my spinal column which allowed the voices of the Collective to overcome my own. I was no longer an individual in control of my own thoughts and actions." Seven decided not to elaborate on the actions she had been forced to commit. Roslin and Adama would no doubt be unsympathetic if they were told that she had been responsible for thousands of individuals suffering the same fate as she had. "I became Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix Zero-One."

Seven wondered if the unease she felt was due to regret. Regret that she hadn't been allowed to mature as Annika Hansen. What manner of individual would she have become if eighteen years of her life hadn't been stolen from her by the Collective? Perhaps this question and the subsequent unease were merely due to the fact that she was not fully human and never would be. Could someone love a person augmented with so many visible Borg implants and also hidden but no less intrusive ones as well? Could a woman as human as Kathryn Janeway ever fall in love with someone so imperfect? Perhaps it wasn't regret, but fear that Seven felt.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"Yes." Seven had indeed heard Admiral Adama's derisive exclamation of incredulity. She merely did not know how to answer his statement of "that's a bunch of crap".

"This is all just very hard to believe." Roslin's carefully modulated voice betrayed none of the rising frustration she was feeling towards this woman. Seven was obviously wasting their time with this talk of aliens going around more or less zombifying people with weird and frightening metal tubes.

"It is irrelevant if what I have just said is… 'hard to believe'." Seven's expression became a firm mask of resolve. "It is the truth."

"If it is true then how did you escape?"

"I did not… 'escape'." Seven's icy blue gaze softened visibly when she thought about who had facilitated her release from the Borg Collective. "Captain Janeway rescued me."

"Really?" It was certainly not lost on Roslin how Seven's expression and voice had shifted from hard iciness to warmth and softness when the other woman spoke of Janeway. That was surely an advantage for Roslin and the Colonials. "And how did she do that?"

"After encountering a species that were even more dangerous than the Borg, Captain Janeway made a tentative alliance with the Borg." Seven was careful not to give too much information on Species 8472. That would just complicate matters. "I was chosen as Captain Janeway's liaison to the Collective."

"And what? She just thought she'd keep you?" Roslin's wine colored lips pulled into a sarcastic grin.

"Incorrect. She severed my link to preserve her crew." Seven's eyes narrowed considerably as her voice hardened. "Over the course of the last two years she has helped me regain my individuality. My humanity."

"She still has some work to do."

Surprised at Roslin's astute though insulting comment, Seven's head raised abruptly. "Yes."

Something akin to shame briefly flashed across Seven's features. It surprised Roslin and she almost regretted saying what she had since she could see it did indeed offend this seemingly impassive woman. The President suspected something else besides her words had caused the shame as well. Perhaps Janeway didn't think Seven was human enough. That seemed odd since Janeway extolled Seven's humanity quite earnestly. Maybe it was Seven who questioned her own humanity. That seemed to be the case. Roslin could certainly see why. The metal adornments must separate Seven considerably from the rest of her crew.

"We're getting off-topic here." Roslin attempted to clear her own thoughts with her words. "You seem to know your Captain quite well. What would it take for her to give us the coordinates to Earth?"

"Permission from the United Federation of Planets." There was no trace of irony in Seven's tone, nor should there be. That was in fact the only way Seven could discern that would cause Janeway to give such knowledge.

"She told us we would never be granted permission." Roslin now wondered if Janeway had been lying the entire time. It would seem that she had.

"That is correct."

"Then what good is that to us?" Roslin's usually cool tones rose in frustration.

"I did not state that it was." Seven's expression remained unemotional though a hint of exasperation entered her tone. "You merely asked what it would take for Captain Janeway to give you Earth's location. I gave you the answer."

"Give us access to your ship." Adama's patience had worn thin. She might be the President of the Twelve Colonies, a capable one at that, but Roslin still didn't understand what it meant to take orders and maintain them.

"You will not find any information regarding Earth on our vessel." Seven had thought it odd and illogical for the Captain to have commandeered Neelix's ship, but now she thought perhaps Captain Janeway was even more astute than Seven had thought.

"Your Captain won't give us Earth's location. You apparently can't access that information. And you brought a ship that has no data on Earth at all." Roslin's skepticism was clearly displayed in her sarcastic tone of voice. "Is that what you're telling me?"

"Yes." Seven almost shrugged. All three points she thought she had made adequately clear.

Roslin almost groaned aloud in frustration and anger, but maintained her cool façade. "I want to know where Earth is."

"What you want is irrelevant." Seven was surprised when she saw the President smile at her.

"Take her back to the Brig." President Roslin replaced her dark rimmed glasses before she stood. "I want to see Captain Janeway in here. Now. Since she can't lockout her mind perhaps our methods of persuasion will be more… effective."

Fear and anger flooded Seven's system, but she maintained her neutral expression as best she could. The betraying muscle in her jaw gave her away. As did her blue eyes that flashed with barely concealed disgust. "Perhaps it is your humanity that needs 'some work'."

Admiral Adama watched his marines as they reshackled Seven before she was taken from the interrogation room. The sound of the outer seal latching preceded the silence that filled the small gray room.

"Well, Admiral." Roslin watched Adama take the seat recently vacated by Seven. His stern features betrayed nothing. "What the hell do we do now?"

"You have one of two options. You either let them go…"

"Or?"

He knew that wouldn't be the option she would take, but Adama wasn't sure if he should really be suggesting this. Whatever Seven was, Janeway was definitely human. A human that knew something the President desperately wanted. That put the captain at an immediate disadvantage. "There is… one thing."

Roslin was surprised to detect hesitation in Adama's gruff tones. "Admiral?"

"The military once ran an experimental interrogation program, involving drugs. Specifically hallucinogens. The goal of the program was to create a state of anxiety so intense that the subject believed that their very survival was at stake. Interrogators would exploit that. Become less an adversary and more of a lifeline. At least that was the idea." He wondered if Roslin had any idea what the government had been doing for the past century since she had a look of astonishment to her features. "It might get Janeway to tell us where Earth is. But it's also dangerous."

"Why are you only telling me about this now?" Roslin was annoyed that this whole thing could have been ended long ago.

"Madam President, this procedure was ruled as torture by the Quorum Twelve during a convention on the human rights of enemy combatants five years ago." He hadn't been present for that meeting of delegates but he had gotten his orders the same as the other commanders. The program had been dissolved officially but each commander had been trained in the procedure and had the drugs onboard their vessels. Just in case.

"But we do have these drugs aboard Galactica?"

"Yes." Adama couldn't blame Janeway. She was a soldier. She had orders to carry out. Like he had before the Colonies had been obliterated. But now he had only one person that issued directives to him. He suspected he would be given one soon.

Roslin would never make the claim that Bill Adama was an easy man to read, but she thought she had gotten to know him pretty well in the past year and a half. "You don't think we should use them."

Adama looked pointedly at the President, trying to stress the seriousness of this procedure with a low, entreating tone. "We could find another way to Earth."

"Or we could be there by the end of this week. I can't just let this opportunity slip by." Nor did Roslin particularly want to drug Captain Janeway with hallucinogens. "Are there any lasting effects?"

"None recorded."

"If this… procedure is mostly harmless then we should proceed. Get this whole mess out of the way as soon as possible." Roslin watched Admiral Adama go to the communications station. "I can tell you I've been getting tired of threatening physical torture."

"It wouldn't have worked anyway." Adama returned the wry grin before he picked up the black handset. "Not on those two women."

"You're probably right about that." Her smile had faded as Roslin brought her hand to her forehead. She was actually going to do this. Two years ago she would never have imagined herself capable of ordering such a thing. Of even being witness to such a thing. A pain clutched at her chest that she ignored as she listened to Adama speaking to one of the marines guarding the brig.

"What do you mean he took her?" Adama felt the President's questioning green gaze, but ignored it while he listened to the marine on the other end of the comm. channel. "I want to know the moment they set foot back on _Galactica_."

President Roslin watched Adama hang the handset back on the wall before he turned towards her. His lips in a grim line of discontent. "Lee."

Roslin nodded her head in understanding. "Lee."

CHAPTER 7

"What's your father going to say when he knows you're taking me out of the brig?" Janeway tried to ignore the four marines that were also with her and Captain Apollo in the otherwise empty shower room.

"I don't know, but I'm sure I'll hear about it soon enough." The sound of the shower made Lee's voice rise in volume. A smirk graced his lips as he crossed his arms over his flight suit covered chest. Admiral Adama would probably and quite loudly question Lee's sanity. "He'll be fine with it."

A sharp bark of laughter preceded the sound of the shower turning off. "I'm sure."

Lee jumped and rifles clicked as they rose when the shower opaque door was abruptly pushed open and Kathryn Janeway proceeded to the changing area which was where Lee and the marines were stationed. Janeway sighed heavily before she gathered the clothing and moved to a more secluded corner in order to change. She tied the gray towel securely around her as she pulled on the gray shorts and then the green fatigue bottoms. Janeway pulled the towel away from her torso as she kept her back to Lee and the guards.

Lee's eyebrows caused the skin between to crease as he watched Janeway set the towel on the bench next to her. She was definitely a petite woman with a svelte figure but that hadn't been what had caught his attention. A dark bruise ran from beneath her right shoulder blade to the bottom of her ribs. The marring of pale skin was soon covered by the gray and brown tank top he had given her.

"Captain!" Lee pushed off the wall before he strode quickly to Janeway's side. "You're injured."

"What?" Janeway had been taken off guard by his exclamation and now his presence. But she was even more surprised when he lifted the tank top to expose her midsection. "What do you think you're doing?"

"How the hell did this happen?" His hands were removed from her body as Lee Adama addressed the quartet of marines. Lee was further incensed by their silence and the shaking of their heads.

"Captain Apollo, I have not been mistreated by your guards." Janeway smiled gently, warmed by the concern. "I was injured when _Galactica _jumped."

"Why didn't you say anything? We should take you to Sickbay."

"It's nothing. It looks worse than it feels." Though that was true, her bruised side still pained Janeway. She wasn't about to let these people's doctor look at her though. "I'm fine, Captain."

Knowing that tone of voice, Lee didn't push the issue. He merely nodded and allowed his indignation to simmer into only mild suspicion.

"Now." Janeway pulled the oversized green jacket around her slight frame as she smiled reassuringly. "Let's go see this fleet of yours."

"Those won't be necessary." Lee nodded approvingly as the marine bearing the metal shackles stood down. "Actually, I'll be handling the prisoner for this trip. You're dismissed."

After a moment of hesitation, the marines filed out of the room. Glad to be rid of their charge and Captain Adama's suspicious glare.

"That's trusting of you." Janeway's smile betrayed none of her intentions of escaping while under Captain Apollo's watch.

"You won't get too far on _Galactica_." Lee smiled charmingly as he undid the hatch. "And no offense, but I think I can take you."

_Ah, the confidence of being a well muscled youth_, Janeway mused as she was led from the shower room. _Speaking of well muscled youths._

"What's so important you couldn't say over the comm.?" Kara "Starbuck" Thrace's hazel eyes drifted from Lee to his companion, a small stature woman in green fatigues that looked a size or two too big. Starbuck took in the auburn hair and the blue-grey eyes, but couldn't place the woman as part of _Galactica's_ crew. "Who's this?"

"This is what I couldn't tell you over the comm." Lee took Kara's arm as he maneuvered both women into a secluded part of the walkway.

"I'm Captain Janeway."

Kara looked from Lee to the woman who had just spoken in a rather regal tone that made her bristle. "Un huh."

"She's the CO of _Voyager_."

"You're kidding me right?" Kara grinned sardonically showing off pointed teeth. She scrutinized Captain Janeway now that she knew the other woman was from that strange ship. "I thought they were being held in the brig."

"We are." Janeway's voice was low and disgusted.

"Lee, what the hell are you doing?" She was going to be quite impressed not to mention shocked beyond belief if Lee Adama was assisting in a prison break. Her smile widened.

"I'm taking her to see the Fleet." Lee's expression remained serious, despite the exhilaration he felt that his mission was falling into place. "And you're coming with me."

Kara Thrace's smile vanished so quickly it might as well have never been there in the first place. "Me? Why?"

"I can't have anyone else involved. So let's go." Lee led the way through the high trafficked hallway with Janeway to the right of him. He could hear Kara grumble behind him and he smirked.

Kara watched the woman walking steadily in front of her very carefully. For all extent and purposes this woman was an alien. Or maybe she was a Cylon, despite Kara's skepticism of that idea. The way blue-gray eyes flitted back to look upon her was beginning to make Kara uneasy. As if the auburn haired woman was sizing her up for a fight. This Captain Janeway looked small, petite even. Kara wasn't exactly intimidated. But she knew better than to let her guard down with an unknown threat.

Janeway passed through the hallways of the _Galactica_ unnoticed despite her escorts. Her keen blue-gray eyes took in every nuance she could. Every person, their appearance, and what activities they were conducting. She felt transported. As if she was whisked away to an earlier time. A time of space travel before even Kirk and Archer. When things were much harder, more hands on, and of course less technologically dependent. Janeway wondered what these people would have been capable of if it hadn't been for the Cylons they had created, if their technology hadn't turned on them. Considering these people only seemed to be a few thousand years old. She had a hunch if they hadn't been technologically stunted they would have exceeded Starfleet. Their propulsion system already had in some respects.

The trio entered the hanger bay as unobtrusively as they could. The only individuals who took note of their entry were Chief Tyrol and Cally, who had been given the sole responsibility of readying a raptor for Captain Adama.

Tyrol and Cally had been present when the _Voyager_ crewmembers had disembarked much earlier that day so they recognized the woman with Adama and Captain Thrace. The rumors about this woman ranged from her being a Cylon to being an alien, which helped to convince people of the validity of her captivity. After looking at her vessel, Tyrol wasn't certain what exactly she was, but a Cylon was doubtful.

"Chief?"

"Uh, yes." Chief Tyrol's gaze on the auburn haired woman was broken by Lee Adama's voice. He nodded his assent as he moved away from the open hatch of the raptor maneuvering a bemused Cally with him.

Tyrol closed the hatch before he readied the hanger for departure. He moved closer to Cally as the ship was transported to the launch tube.

"Do you think it's true what they're saying, Chief?" Cally's eyes watched the airlock doors close behind the raptor before she turned her gaze to Tyrol. "That she's from the Thirteenth Tribe."

"Who's saying that?" Tyrol turned sharply on Cally, his tone skeptical.

"It's just been going around." Cally shrugged uneasily under the scrutiny.

"Don't believe everything you hear, Cally." Tyrol purposefully softened his tone as he put a reassuring, perhaps condescending, hand on her shoulder. "No one even knows if Earth really exists."

CHAPTER 8

"So, what's it like?" Kara Thrace eyes were narrowed as she watched their captive fidgeting with the straps of the safety belt. Blue-gray eyes met hers before they looked to Lee Adama.

"Earth." Kara smirked as she looked from Lee to their charge. She could practically see them trying to come up with a way to deter her line of questioning. "Please, you can't honestly believe I didn't have it figured out."

Janeway kept her eyes on Kara Thrace but most of her attention was on Lee Adama's piloting. The controls seemed pretty archaic and self-explanatory. The only thing she had to do was get loose from Lee Adama's hold.

"Are you going to deny it?" Kara's presence was consciously imposing. Her smirk, the cold eyes, and the overly relaxed stance were all meant to intimidate Janeway.

Captain Janeway was not a woman easily intimidated, especially since she had faced down much more imposing foes than the self-confident woman before her. Janeway almost laughed as she thought how this woman and Captain Apollo would react if they saw a Hirogen hunter.

"You're right. I am from Earth."

"Damn. It really does exist." Kara blew air between her lips as she attempted to come to terms with the fact that the scriptures were in fact true. Her white teeth flashed as she grinned broadly. "What's it like?"

"It's beautiful." Janeway smiled openly as she thought about that small M-class planet she called home. "The environmental crisis of the turn of the millennia has all but been resolved over the course of the last several hundred years. Crime on Earth is negligible. As is discrimination and prejudice. Disease, hunger, poverty, and intraplanetary war are things of a very distant path."

"Sounds like a damned paradise." Kara wondered how someone like her could fit into a place like that.

"Oh, believe me it has its problems." Janeway knew the Federation and thereby Earth were still only beginning to recover from the devastation caused by the Dominion War. She entertained the unsettling thought of how Earth will have changed during the five years _Voyager_ has been stranded in the Delta Quadrant. But only for a moment. It didn't matter since she was still immovably determined to get her crew back to Earth. "But it's home."

Kara had a look that was akin to pity as she contemplated the woman seated across from her. She wondered if Janeway was actually as naïve and innocent as she seemed. She also contemplated what a world would be like without crime and decided it would probably be boring. Lee, however, she could practically see his whimsical, boyish expression.

"Yeah, sounds great." Kara crossed her arms over her chest as she slouched dejectedly against the wall. This is the Fleet's great hope? Though a planet that seemed too good to be true probably was. At least Kara hoped so. What did these people do with their time and resources if nothing needed to be improved upon?

"It's not a paradise and it's not a completely independent planet." Janeway wasn't as naïve as this Kara Thrace seemed to want to see her as. Corruption, crime, and suffering does still occur within and between the planets; but it's kept relatively minimal. Petitions from planetary governments much more tame than these Colonies have been refused membership. "Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets, which includes over one hundred and fifty worlds that vary widely in culture, language, and a multitude of other societal characteristics. The Federation is always changing, sometimes with painful consequences."

"So," Kara purposefully kept her voice indifferent lest her interest would show. "Where is it?"

"My refusal to answer that question, Captain Thrace, is why I'm a prisoner." Janeway contained her exasperated sigh as she attempted to make her voice less confrontation. "What your President doesn't seem to want to understand is that no matter what I want or don't want, the Federation would never allow your fleet to be within a hundred parsecs of Earth."

"Why the hell not?" Kara smiled derisively. "Not… civilized enough for you?"

"The truth of the matter is even though you're humans it's not a default to being citizens of the Federation." Janeway prevented too much judgment to color her tone. She wasn't here to be an exclusivist, but the facts couldn't be changed even if a part of her might want them to. "The conflict with the Cylons precludes your people from petitioning for membership within the United Federation of Planets."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Kara Thrace barely remained in her seat as a hot anger coursed through her frame. Disgust filled Kara at the presumption and condescension displayed by this stranger of a woman. "We weren't the ones who nuked the frak out of the Cylons. They murdered billions of us. We were at peace with those fraking toasters for forty years. And you're going to sit there and tell me that we can't go to Earth because our Colonies were destroyed."

"I can't say anything that would relieve the pain of what happened to your people." Not one easily rattled, Captain Janeway maintained her calm though her voice did drop to a threateningly low octave. "But the laws of the Federation are very clear regarding ongoing planetary conflict."

"We're not interested in membership." Scorn dripped from Kara's tone as she glared derisively at Janeway. "Sacred Scrolls tell us the Thirteenth Tribe left Kobol for Earth about four thousand years ago. We deserve to go to Earth."

Captain Janeway repressed an exasperated sigh as she took in the pontification. "I don't share you're… faith. But I can assure you humans have been on Earth, have been evolving on Earth, for far longer than four thousand years."

"I can't believe that."

"It's not necessary for you to believe it." Janeway attempted to not allow her own views on faith and religion color her tones, but thought she perhaps failed. "It's the truth."

One of the few times in her life Kara Thrace had nothing to say. The slight shaking of the Raptor as it landed brought her out of her reverie. She assisted Lee with post-docking procedures silently as she attempted to refrain from thinking about what she had just been told. There was a possibility that her faith in the Sacred Scrolls could be incredibly misplaced.

"Captain Janeway." Lee Adama held his helmet in one hand as he opened the hatch with the other. "Welcome to Cloud Nine."

CHAPTER 9

It came as quite a surprise when Lee Adama found himself clutching his throat as he tried to take in great amounts of air. For the last hour and a half he and Kara Thrace had escorted Captain Janeway through Cloud Nine from the arboretum to the lower decks where a great many Caprica refugees were being housed. Janeway had seemed at times impressed and other times saddened by the conditions on Cloud Nine. Lee had thought his plan had perhaps worked.

On their way back to the Raptor, he had made one crucial mistake. He had let his guard down. Janeway seemed a rather petite woman. Almost fragile. He was wrong. The surprise chop to his throat and the subsequent knee to his solar plexus had effectively rendered Lee unable to even shout at Kara. Janeway had also managed to steal his firearm and launch key. Where she thought she was going to go and how he had no idea. The answer was made clearer when the blast door to the shuttle bay began to close after her.

Kara Thrace sprinted through the shuttle bay past the fallen Lee towards the launching tube. Kara had been stopped by the docking operator and had barely made it into the launch tube before the seal closed. What she needed to do now was get into the Raptor before their captive closed the hatch and she was sucked into space. She pulled on her helmet just to be safe.

"Stop!" Kara pulled her sidearm from her hip holster and pointed it at the running figure. She barely dodged the rather lousy shots that were fired at her. But they were close enough to slow her down, which Kara realized had been the point. "Frak me! I said stop! I'll shoot!"

Janeway was almost to the Raptor when Kara fired. The bullet hit with perfect precision right at the back of Janeway's left thigh. She went down immediately. The fact that Janeway was rendered out cold when the side of her head hit the unrelenting metal of the Raptor wing was unintentional but Kara took it as happy happenstance. Kara kept her firearm pointed at the seemingly unconscious woman as she made her slow approach. She didn't even turn when she heard the blast doors reopen. Kara knelt next to the fallen woman before she removed both the launch key and Lee's firearm from Janeway's hands.

"Damn it, Kara!" Lee checked Captain Janeway for a pulse and was relieved when he found a strong steady one. "We need to get her to Cottle."

Kara holstered her sidearm before she assisted Lee in carrying the unconscious bleeding woman into the aft section of the Raptor. They set her down as gently as they could on the floor of the craft. Kara powered up the Raptor and announced to docking control that they had an emergency departure as Lee retrieved the medkit. She sent a message to the _Galactic_ over the wire to alert Cottle of the medical emergency.

The ride back to _Galactica_ was made in silence. Lee had wrapped a bandage around Janeway's leg, but it wasn't doing much to stop the bleeding. The woman would probably need surgery. He swore under his breath as he wiped blood from his hand onto one of the disinfecting towels.

After the hatch opened, Layne Ishay and Howard Kim entered with a stretcher. Lee watched as the two paramedics gently lowered Janeway onto the white sheets before they rushed her out of the Raptor.

"Lee." Kara looked earnest as she held her helmet under one arm. Lee didn't look directly at her but she knew she had his attention. "I couldn't let her get away."

"Yeah. She knows where Earth is, so we should just lock her up and shoot her when she tries to escape." Lee smiled sadly. "I'm sure our tour really convinced her to give us the benefit of the doubt, huh?"

"Lee." Kara rolled her eyes as she watched Lee Adama ignore her calls and walk out of the landing bay.

CHAPTER 10

Seven stood with her shackled hands in front of her in the middle of the small cell as she waited for her captain to be returned to the brig. She had been waiting for the past one hundred and thirteen minutes and her patience was being to dissipate. Seven's concern for the wellbeing of Janeway increased with each passing moment. She knew Captain Janeway was skeptical that these Colonials would use violent force to extract the coordinates from Earth. Seven tried to hold such disbelief, but it was difficult. She had no confidence that the Colonials being human would exempt them exacting aggressive behavior to get what they wanted. She merely needed to devise a plan to get her and the Captain to the Baxial and render their escape. Seven had no plan to do so that didn't involve violence, which she knew her captain would not approve of. But if it meant the prevention of harm to come to the captain then Janeway's disapproval would be a small price to pay.

"Do you know where your captain is?"

Seven's icy blue eyes moved to the previously unoccupied bunk to see the woman who seemed a constant companion of Doctor Baltar's, albeit invisible to anyone but him and Seven. She still wore the revealing red dress, which looked conspicuous in the small dingy confines of the cell.

"Being interrogated by the Colonials." Six watched the features of the other woman carefully, but found nothing to reveal her inner thoughts. "What do you suppose they are doing to her right now?"

Seven made a valiant attempt not to let Six's suggestive words affect her or her increasing concern for Captain Janeway allow to show on her features. She was also concerned that if _Voyager_ was able to somehow trace the trail of this vessel's FTL drive the ship would be too far away to mount a rescue. If that were true, then Seven would have to utilize even greater force in order to obtain a vessel with an FTL drive.

"I suppose they could just be talking to her." Six smiled sardonically adding no sincerity to her words. "They won't get the information they want. What do you suppose they will do to her then?"

Seven watched Six rise from the bunk before she moved fluidly towards the bars and Seven. "I could help you. You and your captain. Gaius is the Vice President and I have sway over him. It doesn't have to end tragically, Seven."

"Why are you assisting me?" Seven kept her focus on the outer hatch. She had quickly decided that appearing as if she was speaking to herself would not be advantageous to her or her mission.

"You live as I do. As I want to. You're not a human. You're not a machine. You exist in both worlds. You're a hybrid." Six drifted into Seven's personal space, her breath flitted across the pale skin above the collar of the dark gray tank top. Her voice soft and entreating, even seductive. "We wish to live peacefully with the humans. You could help us."

Seven's retort was anything but seductive. Her voice was cold and critical. "You destroyed their colonies. Killed billions of their people. I am uncertain as to how you will reach a peaceful cohabitation after such an act."

"We were merely reducing them to a more manageable size." A hand lifted in an attempt to cup Seven's face. She stepped away from the physical touch offered by Six.

"Does that logic give you comfort?"

"No." Six's voice lost its sultry quality and became more introspective. "But we all thought it was what was needed. The humans would have destroyed us completely if given the chance. I regret the lives lost, but we did what we thought was necessary."

"I too have been responsible for the destruction of many of lives." Seven's own regret tainted her words. "I helped to assimilate millions."

"How do you live with the guilt?" Six's attempt at seduction had obviously failed. She settled her lanky form once again on the bunk.

"I was not an individual then. I had no choice." The words were true though Seven felt the accompanying guilt and shame she always experienced when she thought about her actions while she had been a Borg drone.

"Does that logic give you comfort?" Six had to smile irreverently as she threw Seven's words back in the other woman's face.

"No."

Six almost regretted her question when she heard the pain in Seven's voice, but she needed to know more about the other woman. How she functions with the humans, while still being so set apart from them. "So, how do you live with yourself?

"My feelings of guilt help me remember what I did, and prevent me from taking similar actions in the future. It can be a difficult but useful emotion." Seven wondered if she had been successful. Captain Janeway had certainly not thought her actions of giving a member of Species 8472 to the Hirogens as being a particularly humane or compassionate act.

Six wasn't convinced that Seven could put everything she had done behind her. "Has she forgiven you?"

"I…" Seven decided it was futile to try to deny the truth, a truth she regretted. "I don't know."

Six felt saddened for such uncertainty from Seven. "You do love her don't you?"

Seven stood more upright in her certainty. "Yes."

"It's so simple isn't it?" Six's voice became wistful as she thought about her own human that she loved. "And yet so difficult to feel it. Always."

"Yes."

"Does she know?" Six leaned back on her forearms as she crossed one leg over the other.

"No." Seven looked away from the knowing expression Six possessed.

"I didn't think so." Not one to be easily ignored, Six removed herself from the bunk again. She sidled up next to Seven in front of the metal bars of the cell. "What is it that you're frightened of? That she won't love you back? That she won't believe you? Does she not think you capable of love? That you're just a machine even though you have blood pumping through your veins? Maybe she looks at you and sees those millions of humans you've helped destroy."

Seven's icy blue eyes narrowed threatening as they locked on to Six's seemingly innocent and open expression. "Stop speaking."

"How does your Captain Janeway see you?" Six brought one hand up to the metal over Seven's left eye. "Human or machine?"

Uncharacteristically, Seven allowed the gentle touch. "She… wants me to be human."

"What do you want?" Six smiled softly as she tenderly brushed her fingers over the metallic implant. Six was pleasantly surprised to find it warm to the touch.

"I want her to be… satisfied with my progress." Seven had indulged the other woman long enough and moved away from Six's touch. "Proud of my individuality."

Six tried not to be disappointed when the contact was broken. She wondered what the metal webbing on Seven's hand would feel like on her own pale, synthetic skin. "Do you doubt that she is?"

"I am uncertain." Seven almost smiled as she recalled how Janeway had come after her when she had been coerced by the Borg Queen to rejoin the Collective. Or when the Doctor's program had begun to destabilize. Janeway had been affected by Seven's pleas and her fear that the Captain would abandon her as well. "I'd like to believe she is."

"I'm not certain if Gaius loves me. He's never said." Six smiled brightly. "But I have faith that he does. He and I have a destiny."

"A 'destiny'?" The optical implant raised in bemusement.

"We were meant to be together." Six placed a hand over her belly as if she were pregnant. "To create a life that would bridge our two people. Were you not meant for the same?"

Seven watched Six as the other woman rubbed her flat stomach. Seven's own hand went to her metal incased midsection. She did not find the activity as satisfying as Six appeared to, so she dropped her metal encased hand to her side once again. "I was assigned as Captain Janeway's liaison to the Borg. To speak to the Collective."

"Perhaps you and your captain have a destiny too."

"Perhaps." Seven's tone was flat though she was skeptical of such a possibility. She did not believe in fate or destiny.

"Something's happening."

The clank of the outer hatch of the cell unlocking brought Seven's attention quickly away from Six. Her eyes went back to the bunk, but Six was already gone. As the seal finished unlocking and the door opened, Seven backed away from the bars as she braced herself for any impending threat.

The two men who entered looked anxious as if they weren't supposed to be in the brig. Their hushed voices and jerky movements only fortified Seven's assumption. She didn't recognize the man in green fatigues, but she did recognize the other.

"Doctor Baltar, what has happened?" Seven tensed as the door of her cell was swung open.

"We're getting you out of here." Baltar's attention was divided between watching Lee Adama unshackle Seven to the now closed hatch.

Gaius Baltar still couldn't quite believe what he had successfully convinced the Admiral's son to take part in. As Vice President he had been made privy to the decision made by the President and the Quorum to use drugs to extract the location of Earth. That was the only information Lee Adama had required to assist Baltar in this impetuous plan. They could both be charged with treason. But if he and Captain Adama were on trial then the Admiral and President Roslin's unconscionable actions would be brought to public knowledge. That was if he and Lee would even be given a trial.

Seven pulled on the green jacket she had been given and the small triangular piece of technology that now hid her implants. "My weapon."

Lee hesitated for a moment before he handed Seven one of the curved gun that had been confiscated by the marines that had initially made the arrest of Captain Janeway and Seven.

"Where is Captain Janeway?" Seven had to keep herself from pointing her phaser at the two men. They could still be of use to her.

"Sickbay." Lee lifted his rifle as he motioned towards the door. "We have to hurry or we might be too late."

Seven clutched the phaser as she nodded her assent, her thoughts only on the Captain. What she might be experiencing at the hands of the Colonials. A cold feeling of dread swept through Seven's body before fiery anger grew in her chest. "Take me to her."

CHAPTER 11

"What do you mean I shouldn't treat her?" Doctor Cottle looked from the President to Admiral Adama with confusion plain in his expression and gruff voice.

"Is it life threatening?" Roslin let her eyes move to the surgical bay where Captain Janeway had been placed.

"I've already stopped the bleeding and disinfected the wound, but she'll need several hours of surgery to get the bullet out and repair the muscular damage." Cottle had been a doctor for a long time, a military one most of his career, and he had never been given an order to not treat a patient in all those years.

"Doctor, we don't have several hours." Laura Roslin kept her voice low despite the fact that the Sickbay had been cleared of all personnel aside from Doctor Cottle. "She knows where Earth is."

"So." Cottle wasn't impressed by the reverence in the President's tone. "Look, she's in pretty bad shape. Three bruised ribs and probably a concussion along with getting shot in the leg. You can interrogate her later."

"How long would the surgery take?" The Admiral, who had been silent up to this point, let his rough voice intercept any retort from the President.

"Three, maybe four hours."

"Postpone the surgery until after the interrogation. That's an order." Adama handed the Presidential documents over to the deeply stunned doctor. The orders on the documents were clear. The interrogation using a combination of hallucinogenic drugs was sanctioned not only by the President but also the Quorum to be utilized immediately upon Janeway's return from Cloud Nine.

Cottle crumpled the documents in his hand as he prayed to the Gods for his own soul as he relented to the orders given to him by the legitimate government of the Twelve Colonies. He had sworn allegiance to the Articles long ago and now he had to live with that commitment.

"She needs to be awake." Adama knew full well what he was asking of the doctor, but there was no way around it.

Doctor Cottle led the way from his office to the medical bed that contained the unconscious form of Captain Janeway. He had already given her an analgesic for the concussion and a shot of morpha for her leg. He worried about what the interrogation drugs would do within her already taxed system. But it was already apparent he had very little say in the proceedings. He broke the small plastic package open between his fingers before he brought the ammonium carbonate up to Janeway's nose.

Janeway immediately inhaled deeply as she was suddenly roused from her unconsciousness by the strong smell of ammonia. Nausea induced from her concussion caused her to groan uncomfortably as she settled back onto the mattress. She would have put pressure on either her throbbing head or her upset stomach if her arms hadn't been strapped to the bed. Her vision cleared and she groaned again as she saw the loaming forms of the President, the Admiral, and a white haired man who she supposed was the ship's doctor since he had a lab coat and gloves on.

"And what…" Janeway licked her dry lips as she attempted to overcome her nausea and the sharp coldness of deep-seated dread. "Do I owe this pleasure?"

"Tell us where Earth is." Roslin moved close enough to Janeway that her warm breath brushed across the other woman's cheek. "I'm giving you one last chance."

"Or what? You'll torture me?" Janeway feared that their ultimatum was even worse, that they would torture Seven. Still the Captain held out hope that these humans would not stoop so low as to try to force the information with such savagery. "I already told you. I can't tell you."

"You can. You just won't." Roslin attempted to not struggle with the choice she had made. But looking at the woman strapped down to the bed she couldn't help but wonder if there was another way. But no, she knew that if she was willing to let Janeway and Seven go free the Fleet's best chance to get to Earth would be forever lost. "There's a way to find Earth without your consent."

"What way?" Janeway's attention was quickly diverted away from the President when Doctor Cottle filled a large syringe. The man looked incredibly disturbed and she thought she had a pretty good clue as to why. "Doctor, don't do this."

Cottle's grim countenance hardened even more at the plea. He tried to convince himself that what he was about to do was for the good of the entire human race. He attempted to ignore the fact that the woman lying injured and bound in his medical bay was also human. As he approached he almost had to look away as the woman began to struggle earnestly though ineffectually against the restraints that held her wrists and ankles trapped to the bed. Her condemnations were even worse.

"If you do this you won't be welcomed to Earth with open arms." Janeway continued to pull against the restraints despite how futile it was. "You'll be criminals."

"At least we'll be there." Roslin stepped away from the bed as Cottle took her place by Janeway's side.

"Hold her head still."

Cottle's order to Adama was enacted effectively despite Janeway's frantic movements. Janeway struggled against the inevitable even as she was no longer able to speak due to strong hand on her jaw. She wanted to scream when the needle entered her neck but the sound was trapped in her throat. Soon the hard grip on her forehead and jaw dropped away along with the rest of the world.

"She's under."

Doctor Cottle moved away from the bed as quickly as he could to his office where he disposed of the syringe and his gloves. He settled himself in his chair, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it before he placed it between his lips. He could still hear Adama's voice but had no desire to take part in the freak show anymore than he already had. The part he did play he knew he would have to live with and revisit for the rest of his life.

"Try not to make any loud noises." Adama pulled the overhead lamp so that it was situated right above Janeway. He knew she would need the light. "She's coming around. Are you ready?"

"Yes, yes, of course." Roslin cleared her throat of the hot tears that had formed. She was doing this for the future of the Fleet. She was doing this for her people.

"I did it, Daddy. I derived the distance formula." Janeway's eyes were indeed open, but what she was looking at was not existing on the same plane of existence Roslin and Adama were on. Her voice had begun as a soft timbre of pride and accomplishment. It quickly dissolved into frustration and urgency. "I solved the problem, I know how to derive the distance formula! Daddy!"

"Captain Janeway." Roslin had no idea what the other woman was shouting about, but it wasn't going to get to her goal as fast as she would like. She leaned over Janeway to speak closely so her breath brushed the soft skin of her neck. "Can you hear me? Can you hear my voice?"

"My God! What is this place?" Janeway raised herself as far away from the bed as the restraints would allow as she looked around the Sickbay without really seeing it at all. Instead, what she saw was blackness, total and utter blackness. "Where am I? My God, where am I?"

"I'm looking for you, Captain." Roslin looked to Adama for approval that what he had instructed her to say had the correct effect. He merely nodded with an indiscernible expression on his weathered features. "I can't find you. Can you tell me where you are?"

"It's cold and it's dark. I can't see anything! I—I can't move!"

"Is there any way you can find a way out of the darkness so that you can tell us where you are?" Roslin intentionally kept her voice calm and unrushed despite the rather small window of time they had to conduct this type of interrogation.

"I—I can't see."

Adama angled the light so it cast its glow across Janeway's frightened visage. He nodded to Roslin to continue.

"Do you see a light, Captain. Look for it. It will show you the way." Roslin could tell Janeway was already starting to calm. The jerky movements had all but subsided.

"I see it."

"Reach for it. Try to capture the light."

"Where is he? Where's the Admiral?" Janeway's agitation began a new as she looked frantically around the Sickbay. Her eyes passed unseeing over both the President and Adama.

"I'm right here, Captain." Adama moved closer to Janeway in order to keep his voice low, but still audible. He was surprised that she remembered him within her hallucination.

"You're Cardassian." Janeway's voice was soft with just the merest hint of fear.

Both Adama and Roslin looked bemused. Cardassian? What the hell was a Cardassian?

"Captain, it's Admiral Adama, I'm right here."

"How foolish." Janeway's breathing visibly slowed as if she was attempting to not let fear color her tone. "You must realize that one will say anything under torture. It's a ridiculous method of getting information."

"She's not talking to us." Adama was sure of it. Whoever Janeway was talking to it was someone either made up or in the past. He suspected it was the latter. "Captain, can you see the light? Reach for it."

"I can't. I can't. They're holding me down." Janeway's expression was a mask of pain and horror as her voice lost its strength. "It hurts. It hurts so much."

"Overcome the pain, Captain, follow the light." Adama shook his head in response to Roslin's unspoken question to put an end to this. They had started this, they were sure as hell going to finish it and have something to show for all this.

"I can't. I can't move. I can't do anything but listen to the Admiral's screams. They won't stop with him." Janeway's voice took on a quiet sort of terror. Her words were a mere whisper. "I've read… heard what Cardassians do to prisoners. They won't stop with him. They'll come for me next. How do you prepare for the inevitable? They will come. And I will be lost. Forever. That's a very long time."

"You want to get home, Captain. To Earth."

"Earth. I'll never see it again." Janeway's words startled both the Admiral and Roslin. Had this all been in vain? "The Cardassians will kill me when they're through."

"No, Captain. You are being rescued. Just tell us how we get you back to Earth. You can go home. See your family again." Adama tried to ignore all the implications Janeway's words had implied. He had a mission to complete.

"Justin. My sweet, dark Justin." Janeway smiled then as she felt the strong arms of her lover wrap around her. His dark eyes so full of love and his lips upon hers. His tall, lanky frame pressed against her own. "He loved me so passionately. And I killed him with ice. Him and Daddy."

This took Roslin and Adama quite unexpectedly, but neither had the time nor the inclination to pursue such an odd topic. The Admiral's voice was harsh and uncompromising. "Tell us how to get to Earth, Captain! Give us the astronomical data to get there or… or I'll give you to the Cardassians. Who will hurt you until you die."

"Look, I don't think we have the time! Earth is so far away. So very far away. My ship. _Voyager_ must return. I just don't know who will be on it. I don't know if I will."

The lamp flashed back on. "Tell us how to get to Earth!"

The banging sound of the outer latch of the Sickbay slamming open preceded any other statement from the Admiral. And then Janeway began to scream.

CHAPTER 12

"Captain, I can't let you in. Admiral's order." The marine held his rifle only partially up not particularly wanting to tell Adama that he shot his son.

"Stand down, Marine, or I'll—"

Before Lee or anyone else could react, Seven backhanded the young marine across his face with her metal laced hand. He fell to the floor of the deck unconscious with a bleeding nose.

Baltar carefully stepped over the fallen man as he approached the door where Lee Adama was working on unlocking. Seven stood next to him for several seconds before her impatience wore out and she used her enhanced strength to turn the latch. With a loud bang the heavy metal door slammed open.

Seven held her phaser threateningly in front of her when she heard the most disturbing sound she had ever experience. Her Captain, the indomitable Kathryn Janeway, screaming in horror and pain.

"Step away from her." The vehemence in Seven's voice would have perhaps surprised the majority of _Voyager_ crewmembers who thought of her as cold and unfeeling. But Admiral Adama and Roslin had no such misconceptions. They both knew she wouldn't hesitate to shoot them both.

"Seven? I've found you." Janeway had stopped screaming when she heard the familiar tones of Seven. The darkness that had surrounded and frightened her began to fade away. The smiling Seven in her mind was hardly recognizable as the woman who held the Admiral and President at gunpoint.

"What have you done to her?" Seven kept her eyes and phaser locked onto the two humans as Baltar released the straps that had held Janeway to the bed. She had fallen unconscious while her bruised wrists were being released.

"She was given a mixture of hallucinogenic drugs." Doctor Cottle had been brought from his office by Lee Adama.

"You haven't treated her gunshot wound." Baltar's voice was aghast as he took in the bloodied leg. He looked for an explanation between the trio responsible for Captain Janeway's current condition.

Doctor Cottle brought a cigarette to his mouth as he watched the odd tableau that was currently taking place. Seven had her attention solely on the President, while Lee had his attention split between his father and Cottle. And Baltar was attending to a still delirious Janeway. "President's order."

Before anyone could react, Seven had President Roslin pinned high against the bulkhead with a strong immovable hand around the other woman's throat. Seven felt the woman struggle futilely in her grasp and all she could think of and hear was Janeway's scream when she had entered the Sickbay. Her grip tightened.

"Do it." Six's breath brushed against Seven's ear. "She hurt the woman you love. Does she really deserve to live?"

"Seven, let the President go. This isn't the way." Lee tried to pull Seven's grip from its hold on the President through his commanding tones. "What would Captain Janeway want you to do?"

"Release our vessel and I will release your President." Seven looked over her shoulder to the Admiral who was still being held at gun point by his own son. "If you do not release our ship and secure our freedom I will kill the President. You have ten seconds to comply."

Admiral Adama hesitated for only five of those allotted seconds. He ignored his President's unspoken plea not to go along with Seven. "I'll do it. Get me Colonel Tigh."

Cottle got on the wire to request Tigh's immediate presence in Sickbay. Before he could hang up the headset he was given further instructions to get Chief Tyrol on the line.

"Chief." Adama looked disdainfully at the firearm his son held on him. "Ready the _Voyager_ shuttle for departure. Just get it done, Chief."

Adama hung the receiver up before he resumed his hardened stance. "I can't believe you're helping her."

Lee felt no confusion in where his loyalty were at that moment. With justice. "Yeah, that's going around."

Colonel Tigh entered the Sickbay confused as to what had prompted his summons. He quickly took in the scene in front of him. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Colonel, Captain Janeway and Seven need a secure release from _Galactica_." Adama weighed the options of whether he could take down his son and get his firearm in the time it would take for Seven to snap Roslin's neck. The odds were not in his favor. "Now."

"Aye, Admiral." Colonel Tigh's eyes flitted around the room before he finally managed to move himself back to the doorway.

"Stop." Seven had no doubt that Tigh would be back within moments with a contingent of armed marines and she had no intention of allowing any more harm to come to Captain Janeway. "Step away from the door. Comply or your President dies."

"Colonel." Adama's nod instructed Tight to follow Seven's order.

The colonel sealed the hatch before he walked to where the Admiral and Cottle were being held by Lee Adama's firearm. For the first time since his entry, Tigh saw Captain Janeway garbed in a cream colored hospital gown and a metal leg brace around her left thigh. Her auburn hair was matted to her sweaty forehead and she looked sickly pale. "What the hell happened to her?"

"Your President and Admiral attempted to extract Earth's location using hallucination inducing drugs." Seven's tone was flat, but her eyes flared with anger. She let her grip on Roslin's throat loosen completely and was satisfied when the other woman fell awkwardly to the ground. She pointed her phaser directly at the President's head. "Join the others. Comply."

Roslin rubbed her throat as she looked up at the looming figure of Seven. Her voice was hoarse, but earnest. "I wish there had been another way, but she left us no choice. I have a responsibility to the Fleet. The future of humans lies with finding Earth. That outweighs all other considerations. Even when the tactics aren't noble."

"Does that logic give you comfort?" Seven raised her head in defiance of such a fallacy. "You have failed to retrieve the information you wanted. You have allowed a fellow human to suffer bodily and mentally to get what you wanted. You wish to find Earth because you believe it is owed to you. If you do get to Earth you will not be greeted as rightful citizens. You will be considered too dangerous and uncivilized to be allowed to pollute Earth's population despite your species. If Earth is your future, then your existence is futile. Earth is not for you or your people. It is for her."

"Are we really that different from her?" Roslin stood as dignified as she could against the ice-cold critical gaze being directed at her from Seven.

"Yes." Seven kept her phaser trained on the huddled group even as she approached the bed next to Baltar who had been checking Janeway's vital signs. "_Voyager_ is stranded in the Delta Quadrant because she would not allow a civilization to be decimated so that she could return her vessel to Earth. She sacrificed her chance to return home for thousands of strangers and asked for nothing in return. She would never have brought harm onto an individual to retrieve data or for a more efficient means to return to Earth. Nor would she have imprisoned individuals unlawfully. She would not have allowed a severe wound to go untreated. She would not have drugged a prisoner so that she might experience harrowing images to gain information. She is nothing like you."

Seven gripped her phaser tighter before she fired.

The widely dispersed heavy stun setting Seven had employed caused President Roslin, Admiral Adama, Doctor Cottle, and Colonel Tigh to drop heavily to the ground, unconscious.

"They are alive." Seven hid her phaser in the confines of her jacket before she gathered a still unconscious Janeway into her arms. "Take us to our vessel."

"We should treat her here." Baltar stepped around the unconscious forms skittishly despite the fact the quartet were definitely out cold.

"The effects will wear off before the surgery can be finished." Seven regretted that fact, but she would rather have the Doctor perform surgery on Janeway anyway. "If I were to fire on them again they would not survive."

"You can't carry her through _Galactica_." Lee had retrieved a wheelchair from a storage closet and presented it to Seven, who looked uncertain before she relented to his wishes.

Seven settled the Captain into the wheelchair as carefully as she could before she retrieved a blanket to warm Janeway's bare legs. Seven brushed auburn strands away from Janeway's still features before she allowed her hand to linger gently on the pale skin of the other woman's cheek. Many on _Voyager_ would have been surprised to see such emotion in Seven's light blue eyes. Tenderness mixed with regret, but what resounded most was affection and love.

"Seven, we have to go." Lee hadn't wanted to interrupt the moment, but he knew it would be only a matter of time before the unconscious lot would wake up and that would just make Seven and Janeway's escape quite a bit more difficult.

"Understood." Seven took hold of the handles of the wheelchair after she had Janeway secured with another blanket over her torso.

Lee opened the hatch slowly before he carefully peered from the open doorway. "All right, come on."

Lee led the way through the corridors of the _Galactica_, with Seven pushing Janeway right behind him. Baltar shuffled closely next to Seven and took quick glances behind him whenever a noise caught his attention, which was often. Aside from a few odd glances here and there no one had tried to stop them during their travels through _Galactica's_ hallways. Lee actually thought they'd get away with this.

"Lee!"

Kara Thrace stood in the hall with her firearm raised. "Are you out of your fraking mind?"

"Stand down, Captain Thrace." Lee held his hands up as he slowly moved in front of Seven, Janeway, and Baltar.

"I can't do that, Lee." Kara's posture was stiff, but sure. "They can take us to Earth."

Lee had no time to react before he was pushed to the ground and Seven fired her phaser. Kara's gun went off as she went down hard onto the deck. The bullet zoomed towards Seven's abdomen unhindered by anything except air. The small piece of metal made a ping sound as it collided with Seven's abdominal implant before it fell harmless onto the deck.

"Extraordinary." What Baltar couldn't know was that if the bullet had been a millimeter to the left or right it would have entered one of Seven's very human, very vital organs. Seven hadn't worried about that fact since her purpose was to shield Janeway from any harm.

"We need to get moving, marines will be here any minute." Lee retrieved Kara's firearm before he opened the hatch that would lead them closer to the hanger deck.

The alarm klaxon that suddenly rang out unnerved both Seven and Lee, Baltar had already been quite unnerved since the whole escape plan had commenced.

Gaeta's voice filtered from the hallways speakers. "Action stations, action stations. Set condition one throughout the ship. This is not a drill. Admiral Adama to CIC."

"There's a ship on DRADIS." Lee was relieved for a moment that the alarm hadn't been sounded because of Janeway and Seven's escape, but that quickly changed to concern that the ship out there was a basestar.

The ship rocked, but too gently to indicate weapon's fire. Seven almost smiled.

CHAPTER 13

"What the hell is it?" Moments after being revived by a group of marines sent to Sickbay after Gaeta had set condition one, Colonel Tigh now stood in CIC with Admiral Adama and the President.

"We… don't know, Sir." Gaeta looked seriously from Tigh to the Admiral, his voice not betraying his own unease. "Scanners can't make anything of it. But propulsion and navigation control is unresponsive. Chief has reported the launch tubes are nonfunctional."

"Weapons?" Adama ignored the painful ache that existed behind his eyes as he looked at the DRADIS for any indication of what had just caused his vessel to be frozen defenseless in space.

Gaeta's wide dark eyes showed the answer before his modulated voice did. "Negative, Sir."

"Petty Officer Dualla, hail the _Pegasus_."

"Aye, Sir." Dualla held her earpiece closer to as she attempted to comply with her Admiral's order. "Sir, there's electromagnetic interference blocking our signal."

"Incoming vessel." Gaeta along with the Admiral and Colonel Tigh watched powerless as a small, but fast ship maintained its intercept course towards _Galactica_.

"_Pegasus'_ Vipers are away." Gaeta didn't know what else to do but report on what was already plainly obvious when one looked at the DRADIS. "_Pegasus_ is on an intercept course towards the _Voyager_."

For the people watching the DRADIS, _Pegasus'_ approach to _Voyager's_ position seemed like an eternity.

"Sir, the interference has cleared up." Dualla smiled as she sighed with relief. She now had something to do rather than sit idly listening to updates made by Gaeta. "I'm getting a message from Commander Garner."

Admiral Adama held the headset to his ear as he waited for the pinched vocalizations of the newly appointed Commander of the _Pegasus_. A man he had appointed, albeit reluctantly. "What's the word, Commander?"

"Who the hell are these people? Nothing's getting through, it's like there's some sort of barrier surrounding the enemy ship." As was the usual Barry Garner's voice was uncertain and laced with fear. Commanding a battlestar had not been in his immediate plans and it showed. "The Vipers aren't getting anywhere on the smaller ship either. Everything we fire at the two ships just bounces off. What the hell do you think they want?"

"Commander, recall your Vipers. We're jumping." Adama didn't wait for a response before he hung up the black headset and turned to Gaeta. "Do we have the FTL drive operational?"

"Aye, Sir. Jumps underway." Gaeta watched as each of the civilian vessels disappeared from DRADIS, one every few seconds. "Sir, _Pegasus_ is away."

"Figures." Tigh wasn't surprised that Garner didn't wait for all the civilian ships to have jumped before he made sure his own ship did.

"Sir, _Voyager's_ shuttle is still on an intercept course. It's firing." Gaeta braced himself for impact, but besides a soft rumbling of the deck it seemed the weapons had done little harm. He believed that until he saw the operations output. "They've taken out our propulsion system."

"We're dead in the water." Tigh looked from the DRADIS to Admiral Adama with his eyes large and mouth slightly agape like a fish's.

"Find Lee. Now."

CHAPTER 14

Roslin swallowed the cool water past the soreness in her throat. She also swallowed past the nausea that had formed like a brick at the bottom of her stomach. Their surest and fastest way to get to Earth had just been denied them. And aside from actual physical torture of either Janeway or Seven or both, she had no idea how she would extract Earth's location. The hallucinogenic drugs hadn't led them to the answers they had sought. In fact it led to more questions. Was Janeway lying about Earth's policies and sociological conditions? What part of her rants were based on truth?

Roslin let her gaze fall on Doctor Cottle who sat at his desk smoking silently apparently lost in his own thoughts. She sighed heavily as she thought about what she had asked him, ordered him to do. But it was for the good of the Fleet. Janeway hadn't been irreparably harmed and even if she had wouldn't the life of one woman be a small price to pay for the safety of fifty-thousand others; the many over the one. Roslin had always believed that she would be the one sacrificed in order to find Earth. She had thought she had prepared herself to be. But did she not deserve Earth as well? Perhaps, she thought critically, she didn't.

The President ignored the solemn Cottle as she walked out of Sickbay followed closely by her marine escorts. As she steadily made her way to CIC, Roslin tried to devise another strategy to use on Janeway. She couldn't just let the other woman go. Not when Earth was so close. Maybe they could find _Voyager_ and ransom the captain's release with her crew as Admiral Adama had hinted at. But how could they find a vessel unequipped with an FTL drive? Where would they even start looking?

"Find Lee. Now."

Roslin detected a serious sort of urgency, bordering on desperation in Adama's voice as she stepped into CIC with her entourage in tow. She joined the Admiral and Gaeta at the command station as Tigh left to carry out Adama's order.

"What's going on?" Roslin looked up at the DRADIS, but couldn't really discern anything from the screen for herself other than the fact that the only ships in the vicinity were _Galactica_ and two ships labeled as "unknown".

"The Fleet's jumped away." Adama turned his dark gray gaze to look ominously at Roslin. "_Voyager's_ found us. It's taken out our propulsion system. _Galactica's_ dead in the water."

"Have you returned fire?" Roslin figured he had, which didn't bode well for them.

"No effect." Adama didn't dare send out his Vipers since one hit from _Voyager_ cut through their hull plating like it was paper.

"What do we do?"

"We surrender." There was little unease in the Admiral's statements. He knew the only reason _Voyager_ wasn't tearing them to shreds was because Janeway and Seven were still on board.

"Bill!" Astonished at the calmness in Adama's statement and the seriousness. The great William Adama was about to surrender? To a ship not even the size of a flight pod?

"Madam President, we don't have a choice." Adama turned away from the betrayed look Roslin possessed to Dualla. "Hail _Voyager_. I know they can hear us even if they aren't responding. Tell them we surrender. Mr. Gaeta, take weapons offline. Go to Condition Two."

"Aye, Sir."

"Petty Officer Dualla, patch me into the entire ship." Adama lifted the headset to his mouth. "Attention this is the Admiral, the _Galactica_ has surrendered. Prepare the ship to be boarded. I repeat, the _Galactica_ has surrendered."

"I can't believe you're just giving up." Roslin whispered fiercely into the Admiral's ear.

"It's over." Adama met the President's green glare straight on. "We lost."

CHAPTER 15

"I repeat, the _Galactica_ has surrendered."

A rush of adrenalin filled Lee Adama with a cold feeling of dread. The grip on his firearm and Kara's tightened despite the order the Admiral had given. "We're about to be boarded."

"Get us to our vessel." Seven disregarded Lee's previous warning as she hugged a still unconscious Janeway protectively to her.

"Is it you?" Baltar's whisper was heard only by Seven's enhanced hearing. "Is it the Cylons."

"No." Six looked at Seven with an almost guilty expression on her icy features. "It's not us."

"Try to relax." Seven followed behind the determined quick steps of Lee Adama as Baltar followed skittishly behind with an uncharacteristically agitated Six.

"Gaius, listen to me." Six made certain her voice was quiet enough that only Baltar heard her as her breath whispered through his hair. "You can't let Seven leave. Get her weapon. Take them out. All of them. Seven will be able to handle it. The others won't."

"But—"

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Proceed." Seven didn't exactly point her phaser at Lee, but there was enough of a warning in her icy glare that he knew it would be if he didn't comply. And then he would end up unconscious on the deck of the _Galactica_ like Baltar was at the moment.

Lee gripped the two firearms tighter as he pushed the hatch open that led to the hanger deck. He was prepared for a cadre of heavily armed marines to be on the other side and was taken off guard by the rather sparsely manned hanger deck. He holstered the two guns as he went to the rigidly standing form of Chief Tyrol.

"Chief?"

"Their shuttle has docked." Tyrol kept his gaze on the airlock. His voice was oddly calm, but his wide dark eyes displayed concern. "Our weapons had no effect on it."

The airlock cycling through seemed longer and louder than the Chief had ever experienced and it wasn't until the last clank was through that he even noticed he and Cally weren't alone. Cally was actually quite obviously staring at the women to Lee's left. She couldn't help but gape at the two women she had seen exit through the same airlock only twelve hours ago.

"What do you think happened to her?" Cally whispered the words similar to what Tyrol had already been thinking.

Chief Tyrol merely shrugged noncommittally in response as he readied himself for the boarding party. He had cleared out the hanger bay in case they were hostile.

A group of five individuals exited onto the flight deck each garbed in matching outfits of thick leather combat uniforms of black with red shoulders.

"The Captain needs immediate medical attention." Seven carried her precious cargo carefully in her strong arms as she met the five Voyager crewmembers that would be their liberators from _Galactica_. "She has been shot, drugged, and has sustained other injuries during our incarceration."

Tom Paris only paused for a moment from the shock of seeing his prostrate and sickly pale Captain in Seven's arms. With a somber nod of his head he gave silent instructions to Billy Telfer and Juliet Jarot to retrieve an anti-grav lift for their Captain. He noticed how reluctant Seven was as she carefully lowered Janeway onto the stretcher before she covered the form with blankets.

Tuvok whose black bandana hid his pointed ears that would have been amusing to Tom in any other circumstance had his dark keen gaze on the three Galactic crewmembers. The trio was taking in the quick and composed rescue silently and passively. If they had any protests they would have been dealt with swiftly by Crewman Biessman, who despite his boisterous and cocky personality had been deeply affected by what he thought was a major failure on his part to adequately do his duty.

"Seven, it's time to go." Tom didn't go as far as to actually touch Seven, but his strong, though soft voice was enough to gain her attention and to draw her icy blue gaze away from where Jarot and Telfer held the anti-grav cart that carried Captain Janeway by the open airlock.

"Wait!" Lee Adama had the good sense to hold his hands up as he made his slow approach to where Tom and Seven were standing. "From what the Chief has said _Voyager_ took out our propulsion system. We're dead in the water."

"That is no longer our concern." Seven felt no guilt in denying this vessel anything. She was ready to be on _Voyager_ and for Captain Janeway to be adequately cared for by their Doctor.

Tom knew what that meant for a vessel alone in the openness of space. "Seven, what would Janeway do?"

CHAPTER 16

"It will probably be sore for the next twelve hours or so. There was extensive tissue damage. If it had been repaired right away all this might have been avoided. Just try not to overexert yourself in the next few days. If you do, your muscles won't repair properly." The Doctor hesitated as he made the next suggestion. "You'll probably want to use this."

Janeway looked at the cane with denial already on her lips, but was stopped by the Doctor's continuation of his report. "I've removed all traces of the hallucinogenic drugs from your system. Your three bruised ribs have been healed. As has the concussion you received. You're released."

"Thank you, Doctor."

The holographic Doctor was in much better spirits than he had been when she had initially woken, quite disoriented onboard the _Delta Flyer_. He had carried on a one sided conversation on medical barbarians and the Hippocratic Oath on the shuttle, which carried into _Voyager's_ Sickbay . "Needles, how quaint", had been the nicest thing he had to say.

As Janeway stood from the biobed she regretted the fact that her left leg was indeed quite sore, not to mention weak. With no little humility she braced the cane on the floor as she put most of her weight on her right leg. "Have you arranged the medical supplies?"

"Yes, Captain." Not one to be easily cowed into silence, not even by the rather intimidating Kathryn Janeway, he decided to make his protests known. "Captain, I understand your wish to help these people, but do you need to deliver them personally? I'm sure Commander Chakotay could do so in your stead. These people—"

Janeway held up a slim hand. "Need our help. I'm not going to just ignore people in need because of the actions of their government and military. Have the supplies sent to Shuttlebay Two."

"Aye, Captain."

Janeway got halfway to the door before she thought better of it. She turned towards the Doctor with earnestness on her elegant features. "Doctor? Are you happy?"

"Captain?"

"Are you happy, Doctor? Here on _Voyager_?"

"Well, yes… for the most part." The Doctor retrieved a PADD he had been composing for the last several weeks. He handed it to the Captain, hopeful. "Actually there was one item I've been meaning to talk to you about."

Janeway's blue eyes calmly took in the complaints, but they went wide at the end of the formal memo. "An Emergency Command Hologram?"

"An ECH. In case you're incapacitated and the command structure breaks down." He could tell she wasn't convinced so with a sigh he continued. "Captain, you've given me a great deal of freedom on this ship. I'm not disputing that. I don't think anyone could. But I want to be allowed to participate and advance in accordance with my abilities. Like anyone in this crew would. I'm a computer program, which means my databases could be expanded indefinitely. I know my primary responsibilities are in Sickbay and I'm proud to be your CMO, but multitasking is engrained in my program. All I've ever wanted was to live up to my full potential. It's possible that the lives of everyone on Voyager may depend on it someday."

If he had been human, Janeway thought with a small smile, he'd be out of breath by this point. She let her left hand rest on his shoulder for reassurance. "It's an intriguing proposal, Doctor. I'll talk to Ensign Kim, have him compile a research project to explore your command abilities."

"Thank you, Captain." The Doctor voice was hitched up with excitement. His smile was broad for he couldn't believe this dream of his could become a reality.

"I'm also going to seriously consider your complaints regarding treatment by the crew." Janeway had thought the people on _Voyager_ had adapted to the Doctor's holographic nature, she had apparently been mistaken. "I'm going to petition Starfleet to allow me to give you a field commission. You've certainly proved you deserve one. How does Commander sound?"

Excited warmth burst forth in the Doctor's chest as he tried to come to terms with all of the wonderful things that she was saying. "I—I don't know what to say. Thank you."

"If one thing this experience has taught me is that you're as much a part of this crew as anyone else, Doctor. It's time you're treated as such." Janeway made it all the way to the door with a content smile on her lips as the Doctor hummed happily to himself before she turned around once again. "Doctor, you'll need to choose a name. I can't very well put you in the log as 'Commander Doctor'."

"Yes, Captain." The smile of success he thought perhaps he should have had was instead replaced with indecision. What name should he choose to fully encapsulate the remarkable individual he was?

Captain Janeway despised the cane, but she knew that the bullet that had entered her leg had done a lot of damage. The forced delayed treatment hadn't done her leg any good either. Despite her limp, she moved through her vessel swiftly. She entered the turbolift and was grateful that it was empty. "Deck Ten."

As infuriating as it was, Janeway couldn't mitigate the fluttering in her lower abdomen even when she let her hand rest on it as the lift lowered to deck ten. She was a Starfleet captain, she didn't succumb to feelings of dread. She had a mission and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to finish it. With a deep breath she ignored her unease, let her features display a calm façade, and exited when the turbolift doors opened.

Captain Janeway nodded to the few crewmembers that walked by her and tried not to feel self-conscious about her limp. The pneumatic doors opened audibly when she moved within the sensor field and she forced away the last of her agitation. The shuttlebay was a swarm of activity. Several crewmembers were carting storage containers filled with food stuffs into the _Delta Flyer's_ rear cargo module utilizing anti-grav platforms. Janeway idly wondered how much more could be crammed into the shuttle without it buckling under the weight. She smiled as she approached the bustle of activity, slowly but surely.

"Captain?"

Tom Paris followed quickly by Harry Kim intercepted Janeway before she could enter the _Delta Flyer_. "Uh, we're almost set here, Captain."

"Good to hear. I'd like to get these supplies over to the _Galactica_ as soon as we can." Janeway didn't add that the sooner they got the other vessel on the road and away from _Voyager_ the better.

"So, you're planning on joining the mission then?" Harry tried to keep his voice light, but he thought he failed when a wary look graced Janeway's elegant features.

"Do you have a problem with that, Ensign?" Janeway would have put both hands on her hips, but the cane prevented such an action. Despite that fact her right hand on her hip projected the air of defiance she wanted to portray.

"Of course not, Captain." Harry stiffened as his face heated with embarrassment.

"It's just, we can take care of hauling over the supplies." Tom was much better at subterfuge than Harry, but his nonchalant tone still didn't trick Janeway.

"Ensigns, I'm perfectly capable of leading a diplomatic mission, thank you." Janeway's steely tone brook for no argument from either man despite the wounded little puppy looks they had on their faces.

"Captain."

Janeway missed the hopeful light that filled Tom and Harry's expressions when Seven's voice caught her attention. "Seven, I thought you would be regenerating."

"I regenerated for six full hours. I am at optimal efficiency." Seven tried not to show her agitation at seeing the metal cane in Janeway's hand. A visual of what the Captain had been forced to endure at the hands of the Colonials. "I was not aware that you would be leading this away mission."

"I'm still the Captain, aren't I?"

"Indeed." Seven stood defiantly with her chin raised and her hands clasped behind her back. "Captain, may I speak with you for a moment."

Seven's eyes never drifted from Janeway's bemused expression, but she was relieved when both Ensigns Kim and Paris quickly made themselves scarce. Seven moved closer to her Captain so as to not be overheard by any of the other _Voyager_ crewmembers.

"You don't want me going to the _Galactica_, do you?"

Seven's metallic implant above her eye lifted from the fact that her Captain had already known what she was about to say. "I do not believe it would be safe."

"Are you part of this away mission?" Janeway already knew the answer but she wanted to hear it from the defiant woman before her.

"Yes."

"The Colonials weren't exactly taken with you either, Seven." Janeway understood the concern of her senior officers, but that didn't mean she was going to yield to it. She wasn't about to shirk her duties just because of a few unpleasant memories. "Tom will stay in the _Delta Flyer_ in order to monitor the _Galactica's_ propulsion systems and we can have an emergency beam-out if anything goes wrong. We'll be fine, Seven."

"I am not concerned for my safety, Captain."

Janeway was startled by the worried look on Seven's features. Her right hand rested briefly on Seven's plum covered shoulder reassuringly. "I appreciate your concern, but it's a different situation now. A humanitarian mission."

Seven didn't voice her opinion that the Colonials didn't deserve it, but she did let her icy eyes show her displeasure that the Captain was not heeding to her wishes. The fact that Janeway wasn't altogether comfortable with Seven's presence on this mission wasn't revealed to her.

"The last of the cargo is secure." Harry looked from the slightly triumphant look on the Captain's face to the regretful on Seven's and knew they had failed.

"All right, let's go."

CHAPTER 17

Not even a full day had passed since Laura Roslin last stood in the hanger bay of _Galactica_. It had taken quite a bit more effort for her to remain calm this time around. She had spent the last several hours trying to put out the proverbial fires that the media had started and fanned regarding everything from an alien encounter to the President personally torturing captured humans from planet Earth. Her official report to the press had been that the _Galactia_ had indeed met a vessel filled with humans though of unknown origin. The press had of course not been satisfied with that but one of the luxuries of being the President of the Twelve Colonies was that she had to answer to no one. No one except for herself.

Roslin shifted uneasily when the first clanks of the airtight hatch sealing. She wondered, worried really, if Captain Janeway would be exiting the shuttle that was presently being lowered by the landing bay platform. The President figured the other woman would not deign herself to come aboard _Galactica_ again. She actually felt relieved by that idea. She clasped her hands in front of her as she watched the aft hatch lowering to the deck before a few familiar people, obviously armed, exited the shuttle. But unfortunately for her and her own ease she had been wrong. Janeway exited the shuttle last.

Admiral Adama's warm presence to her left fortified her own resolve, but she still felt a pang of guilt when she once again watched Captain Janeway walk with dignity and calm towards her. She almost groaned aloud at the sight of the dull gray metal cane that helped support the still damaged leg. Roslin felt a flush of heat rise in her cheeks when Captain Janeway's pointed gaze fell onto her.

"President Roslin."

Roslin was the first to look away, which prompted Janeway to turn her attention to Admiral Adama. "Admiral, I imagine your crew would like to secure the supplies we've brought. Ensigns Kim and Paris will assist them. Seven has compiled astrological data we'd like to share with you. Perhaps we could move to somewhere more private. I'm sure we have much to discuss."

Despite the diplomatic smile, there was something foreboding in Janeway's low tones. And even more so in Seven's razor-sharp glare that rested solely on Roslin at the moment. Not one to be easily intimidated Roslin returned Janeway's smile and studiously ignored Seven as best she could. "Yes, of course."

"Admiral, Colonel, you remember Seven and this is my security chief, Commander Tuvok."

Having Tuvok as her security had been the only concession Janeway had made for this mission. He wore a black bandana to cover his pointed ears and regarded the Colonials before him impassively despite his own aversion to what had happened to his Captain onboard this vessel.

"Let's get this done quickly shall we." Janeway's smile was beginning to fade exponentially as the throbbing in her leg increased. "I'm sure we'd both like to get back on the road as soon as we can."

As he had before Admiral Adama led the way through _Galactica_ to his quarters, but instead of chatting with Captain Janeway about his ship and crew both commanders remained silent. Internally Adama was struggling and the constant tapping of the metal cane against the ship's deck plating wasn't helping. He knew he had done what was best for the Fleet in an attempt to gain Earth's location by the most efficient means possible. The President and the Quorum's command had allowed him to use drugs on Captain Janeway and to delay her treatment. He hadn't liked that decision but he had allowed it. And what had that gotten the Fleet? Nothing but a damaged battlestar and still no clear path to Earth despite their efforts, as erroneous as they had been.

Adama wondered about some of the things Janeway had said during her drug induced state. He wondered about the Cardassians, about her father, about this man she had loved named Justin. These were not questions he knew he would ever get answered since Captain Janeway would most definitely not be in the mood to hear them as well she should be. He had been astonished that once the Captain and Seven had left _Galactica_ and returned to _Voyager_ they hadn't left the sector immediately. Instead a Commander Chakotay had informed them over the wireless that their Captain had commanded them to remain with the _Galactica_ until repairs could be made and supplies could be sent over. The Commander had also added that _Voyager_ was not a defenseless ship by any means. A fact Adama had already known. The threat in Commander Chakotay's had been obvious, as had the contempt and disgust.

The Admiral entered his quarters first followed closely by the President and Tigh. The three _Voyager_ crewmembers entered last, which left the two marines outside the hatch. The security was protocol, but Adama knew that if Captain Janeway had wanted to destroy them she could have done so already. No, he didn't feel in danger. The three stoic expressions weren't threatening so much as unapproachable and cold.

Instead of sitting on the long couch as they had, Adama took a seat at his desk while Janeway took the other. The President settled herself in one of the leather-bound recliners and Colonel Tigh stood next to the Admiral. Janeway's charges stood like sentinels on either side of her, which Adama thought, they probably were.

"Here's the supply manifest. Your Chief Tyrol has been given the same list." Janeway passed the stack of bound papers to the Admiral. She had not noticed anything close to resembling a PADD when she had last been in Adama's quarters so she had "printed out" the information in the rather primitive form of ink on paper. "There should be enough food stuffs to feed your fleet for the next year. We've also included some rudimentary medical supplies. You're advancement in medicine is different than ours but we hope Doctor… Cottle, was it, can make good use of it. Last but certainly not least, an M-class planet three sectors from here. This is a star chart that maps out the coordinates from your present location. We're not sure how your FTL drive works but it shouldn't take you long to get there. I have to warn you that it's a harsh planet. Only twenty percent of its surface is habitable. But it is within a dense nebula that renders your sensors useless. It'd be an ideal hiding place from the Cylons."

Adama couldn't find his voice over the surprise he felt at all this information, so he merely nodded his head in understanding.

"Why are you doing this?" President Roslin had remained oddly quiet until this point, but she needed to know. Her voice was a bit rough, but honestly confused.

"I know your people are suffering, Madam President. But what I also saw in them was resilience and life." Captain Janeway tightened her hold on the handle of her cane as she stood. "I told you what I had to offer, it's not your people's fault that you weren't satisfied with that."

Roslin wondered if she should try to apologize or explain, but she had no explanation nor did she think Janeway or anyone else would think her verbalizations of being sorry would be believed. In truth they shouldn't. She had done what she thought had been best for her people. To save them all. So, why did shame fill her? Perhaps it was because she knew deep down that Janeway would never have done the same thing to her if their positions had been reversed.

"Where's Captain Apollo?" Janeway now ignored the silent President in favor of the Admiral. "I'd like to speak with him."

"He's in the brig." There was disappointment, annoyance, and regret that created complexity in Adama's rough tones.

"I see." Janeway wasn't exactly surprised. She almost smiled as she thought of the rebellious though honorable man, almost. "I would still like to see him."

Adama could tell the woman before him was used to getting what she wanted. He thought about the rather odd situation they were presently in for a moment before he answered. "Colonel Tigh will escort you there."

Tigh was startled by Adama's compliance, but he got over it quickly. He led the way out of the Admiral's quarters with only a few grumbles made under his breath.

After the hatch closed, Adama poured himself and the President a drink. The amber fluid burned on its way down his throat.

"Do you regret what we did?"

"No." Adama took another long sip before he elaborated. "I just wish it had been worth it."

CHAPTER 18

Janeway was thankful for the chair as the pain in her leg was becoming worse with each step she took. She didn't let her relief or any discomfort show on her features, instead she merely smiled brightly at the man seated on the other side of metal bars. "We must stop meeting like this."

"Not exactly the best view on the ship." He returned her smile sincerely. "I didn't think I'd see you again."

"I had a few things to drop off on _Galactica_ before _Voyager_ continued its journey." Any teasing in Janeway's voice faded as she locked her blue gaze on Lee's equally blue eyes. "I also wanted to thank you. You risked a lot to help complete strangers. Even while you knew I couldn't give you what you wanted. I can't tell you how grateful I am."

"It was the right thing to do."

"Perhaps. But certainly not the easiest." Janeway lowered her voice to a mere whisper. "If I didn't know how loyal you were to your people and their future I might be tempted to ask you to come with us."

"I'm sure it's best I don't know what I would be missing." Lee looked around his small cell, the same one she had inhabited only hours before. His voice was light and teasing as he grinned. "Don't worry. They can't keep me in here forever."

"Well, that's good to know."

"Kim to the Captain."

Janeway tapped her combadge to open the channel. "Go ahead, Ensign."

"Supplies are unloaded. Chief Tyrol says the FTL drive should be up and running within the hour."

Janeway smiled. It probably helped that the part _Voyager_ had transported from Galactica's propulsion system had been returned with the supplies. "Prep the _Delta Flyer_ for departure. We're going home."

"Aye, Captain. Kim, out."

The pain in her leg made her grimace as she stood from the metal chair. She ignored the ache as she made her way to the bars that separated Lee Adama from the rest of the world. "Thank you again, Captain Apollo."

Lee pushed his right hand through the bars and smiled when Janeway clasped it with her own. After he relinquished his hold he looked past the Captain to the stiffly silent Seven. Something unspoken passed between them and despite Seven's seemingly impassive mask there was such gratitude in her eyes that Lee understood something in that moment that reinforced his feelings of righteousness.

"I hope you get back to your Earth, Captain." Lee once again focused solely on Janeway. "To your home."

Janeway nodded, emotion heated the back of her throat and moisture formed in her eyes. Not just for his words. But what it truly meant. Lee Adama knew Earth wasn't for him or his people it was for her and her people. They were the same but ultimately very different groups of humans.

"Captain, for what it's worth I'm glad we met. It doesn't seem so lonely. It's nice to know we're not the only ones out here."

Lee's broad smile faltered at her response.

"You have no idea how right you are. Good bye, Captain Apollo. And good luck." Janeway left Lee Adama with one last smile, an enigmatic grin, before she exited the brig with Seven and Tuvok in tow.

"Captain, you require medical attention." Seven's observation was much more commanding than what Tuvok would have said but he no less agree with her statement.

"I'm fine, Seven." Janeway seemed to deliberately quicken her pace just to prove her point. She gritted her teeth against the increase of pain in her leg when she did so. She just needed to get back to her quarters, into her hot bath, and then finally she'd be allowed to let the forty-eight hours fade away from her mind.

Both Tuvok and Seven knew that arguing would prove futile so with a pair of raised eyebrows they also increased their speeds to match their captain's. Four marines escorted them through the _Galactica_ and after a few sets of stairs and a half a dozen corridors they were back where they had started. The hanger deck.

Seeing Harry Kim laughing with Chief Tyrol caused Janeway's blood to boil and the last of her patience to vanish. Her command was harsher than she could seem to control. "This isn't a social call, Ensign. It's time to go."

Ensign Kim knew better than to hesitate and so with a quick and formal farewell he followed his Captain and Seven and Tuvok into the _Delta Flyer_. Tom was already at the conn finishing up with the preflight protocols and monitoring _Galactica's_ propulsion systems. Janeway settled her sore body onto the bench across from where Seven was seated at the Engineering station. Tuvok and Kim took their posts at Tactical and Ops, respectively

The hum of the _Delta Flyer_ and the lateral movement of their transportation into space calmed Janeway with the prospect of their impending return to _Voyager_. Once she was back on her ship she would no longer have to concern herself with the _Battlestar Galactica_ or their very human passengers. She would just have her own vessel and crew to worry about. Janeway sighed as she rubbed her left thigh as discretely as she could. A warm presence in front of her caused her eyes to open.

"What is it, Seven?" Janeway's voice was rough with weariness, which also gave it a sharp edge of impatience.

"An analgesic, for your leg." Seven knelt gracefully in front of her seated captain which she saw startled the other woman. "Please."

Janeway wanted to refuse the hypospray but she couldn't see the point in doing so either than satisfying her own stubbornness. So with a nod she succumbed to Seven's wishes. She tilted her head to offer her neck to the hypospray. She was taken off guard when her chin was held gently in Seven's warm grasp. Janeway ignored the tingling sensation that touch sent through her.

A hissing sound accompanied the medicine's deployment and a moment later Janeway already felt a relief from the pain in her leg. "Thank you."

"You are welcome, Captain." Seven didn't immediately stand or remove herself from the close proximity to Janeway. Instead she merely looked directly into her captain's eyes as she decided what to say next and in what way. She apparently couldn't decide because after a moment of consternation she stood abruptly and returned to her station.

Utterly perplexed Janeway studied the other woman, but Seven would not meet her gaze. They hadn't spoken in private for any extended period of time since before this whole incident had taken place. The Captain knew it was only a matter of time before Seven would come to her to have one of their philosophical discussions and frankly Janeway didn't know whether to look forward to it or dread it. She usually enjoyed their late night talks, but after being awake for the better part of a day and enduring what she had Janeway was ready to sink into a hot bath and then her warms sheets before she put this whole incident behind her. Carefully kept in that secret vault where she suppressed all the things that scared her or made her feel weak and powerless.

Captain Janeway was the first to disembark the _Delta Flyer_ after it landed within _Voyager_. She made a few brief departing words before she left the shuttlebay as fast as her legs could carry her.

"Seven, can we talk to you for a moment."

Tom's voice drew Seven's attention away from where Janeway had just departed. When she turned back to the _Delta Flyer_, Ensign Kim and Tom Paris were approaching her position. The trio watched the doors shut behind Tuvok before any of them spoke again.

"Proceed, Ensign."

"We're worried about the Captain." Ensign Paris looked as sincere and solemn as Seven could ever recall him being. "You were over there with her…"

"We just thought maybe you could talk to her." Harry looked entreatingly at Seven.

Seven merely nodded her assent since speaking with Janeway privately had already been decided as her next course of action. Whether the other woman wanted to speak with her or not.

CHAPTER 19

A throaty groan escaped as Captain Janeway descended slowly into the almost scalding water of her bath. The copious amounts of bubbles covered her nakedness as she sank all the way in with an appreciative smile touching her lips. She tried to keep any negative thoughts at bay and just enjoy her much needed bath, but it would seem her mind had other ideas. Janeway couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if the hallucinogenic drugs she had been give had caused her to tell Admiral Adama and President Roslin where Earth was. She probably would have to if the drugs had done what they were supposed to have. The Doctor had explained that something in her chemical makeup had interacted unexpectedly with the drugs and instead of merely fabricated hallucinations she had experienced an engram surge.

In lieu of experiencing vague terror she had been forced to relive quite vividly a handful of the worst moments in her life in the span of minutes that felt like days. She had almost been able to feel the kicks, phaser blasts, and other physical punishments as if they were actually happening to her in the present. At the beginning she had truly thought she was back in that Cardassian prison with Admiral Paris being threatened by Gul Camet. And then later she had been transported in her mind back to Tau Ceti Prime with her beloved father and Justin Tighe, her fiancé at the time. What had been more painful than the physical assault she had relived was the cold and darkness that was all encompassing when she was forced to face the day the two men she had loved more than her own life had died. And along with them a piece of her as well.

Janeway tried to keep the tears from falling from her eyes as she forced the memories away that were now so fresh in her mind once again. As if the events had happened yesterday instead of nearly twenty years ago.

"Damn them." Janeway angrily brushed away the tears that had dared to escape.

She thought about President Roslin and the Admiral. His son, Apollo. Doctor Baltar and Cottle. Colonel Tigh and Kara Thrace. Chief Tryol. The residents of Cloud Nine. They were all trying to get to Earth, an almost intangible place that most held as true based on nothing more than faith. They had the means to get there just not the knowledge of its location. The _Voyager_ crew had the knowledge just not the means. It would seem a simple and straightforward alliance to make. So why hadn't she? Principles. Rules and regulations. Facts. She had been truthful when she had told them the Colonials would not be welcomed with open arms. They would be required to go through an extensive screening process and Janeway had no doubt that they would fail. She had seen and heard enough during her little excursion with Lee Adama aboard Cloud Nine that despite their FTL drive the Colonials were a primitive people who had yet to find peaceful means to settle disputes and problems. The Cylon conflict alone would have precluded their membership into the Federation.

Could she have done something more than give supplies and the location to the nearest and safest M-class planet? Probably. She could have even attempted to be a mediator between the Colonials and the Cylons, but it hadn't quite worked out that way. _Voyager_ had been lost to her due to the unexpected jump and then Seven and she had quickly become prisoners.

Seven. Janeway remembered hearing Seven's voice as if it had been spoken from very far away while she had been held in _Galactica's_ Sickbay. She hadn't been able to make out what it was Seven was saying, but just her presence had helped to calm the visions in Janeway's mind. Instead of ice and snow, she had seen Seven with a smile on her full lips and had felt warmed by it. It was strange, Janeway could remember the events of that memory but she couldn't recall Seven having had the tender look that the vision in her drug induced engram cascade had bestowed upon her. Perhaps at the time she hadn't allowed herself to see it. They had been in the mess hall eating breakfast. An ordinary day that quickly turned into a cherished memory. Stardate 52841, the first time Seven said "thank you" for taking her from the Borg.

The soft smile that began on Janeway's lips quickly vanished when her door chime interrupted her ruminations. "Computer, who's at the door?"

"Seven of Nine."

"Speak of the devil." Janeway's smile returned, though she felt trepidation at seeing the woman who she had just been contemplating. With some regret she removed herself from her bath and donned her cream colored robe after she used the heating unit to quickly dry her body.

"Come." Janeway moved to her replicator as the doors to her quarters opened with an audible hiss. She tried not to show how very aware she was of Seven's presence, which caused goose bumps to rise across her skin. "It's late, Seven."

Janeway didn't need to look behind her to know Seven stiffened at the reproach in her voice. With a sigh she turned away from her replicator with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the accursed cane gripped in the other. She resigned herself to the fact that Seven would not be easily dismissed and the uncomfortable awareness that a large part of her didn't want Seven to leave. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No. Thank you." Seven studiously ignored the enticing fragrance of bath oils and clean skin, the expanse of creamy flesh and the way the robe held Janeway's petite form. Her icy blue eyes had a dark cast to them as they instead focused on the metal cane next to the limb that Janeway was obviously trying to settle as little weight on as possible.

"Stop looking at me like that, I'm fine." Janeway caught the worried look mixed with anger that a person who didn't know Seven as well as she did might have been completely unaware of. She brushed past Seven to settle on the couch underneath her viewport. Seven's gaze followed her and she turned towards the couch but did not join Janeway.

"I apologize, Captain." Seven stood stiffly with her hands clasped behind her as she tried to formulate the words she had come here to say.

"Seven." Captain Janeway deliberately softened her tone. She patted an area of the couch next to her in invitation. "Come, please sit."

Instead of her usual refusal, Seven instead nodded her head in acquiescence. She settled her lanky form in ninety degree angles of impossible straightness onto the cushion next to Janeway's, so close the heat from the Captain's body warmed her left side.

"Are you having difficulty coming to terms with what you experienced on the _Galactica_?" Janeway's dark eyes were noticeably concerned, open and compassionate. Her voice was a complex mixture of residual anger for what they had both been subjected to and worry for Seven.

"No." And that was the truth. Seven's only concern was for Janeway. "But I believe you are."

"I beg your pardon." Janeway was taken off guard by the assuredness of Seven's statement. And the truth of it, which caused the Captain's indignation for being so easily read by the other woman to rise.

"You never believed the Colonials capable of such inhumane acts to get the information they wanted because they were human. I have no such bias." Seven didn't mean to raise her chin or look so imperial, but she did. "That is why you are still being affected by the actions of President Roslin and Admiral Adama."

"I'm sorry I can't just shut my feelings off like you." Janeway regretted the words even while they were tumbling out of her mouth. And even more so when a hurt look passed over Seven's features. "I didn't mean that, Seven."

"You did not?" The injured look was replaced by irritation. Seven's eyes flared with anger that also colored her tone. "You still see me as Borg. As a machine. You do not see me as an individual… and perhaps you never will."

"That's not true, Seven. And that's not how I see you." Janeway felt shame drop heavily in her lower abdomen like a frozen stone. "I didn't mean what I said. I know you have feelings. That you feel. I—I said that out of anger."

"Do you feel anger towards me?" Seven ignored the warmth that filled her chest at what her Captain had just said to her for the sake of this enlightenment.

"Of course not." Janeway's hand halted before it reached Seven. The Captain seemed to think better of actually touching the other woman and instead retrieved her coffee mug from the low table in front of the couch.

"But you feel anger."

"I suppose I do." Janeway took a few sips of coffee before she replaced the mug on top of the glass coffee table. Her blue gaze swept across Seven's impassive features with interest. "Aren't you angry?"

"Yes. I am extremely angry." Despite Seven's words both her voice and facial expression were carefully modulated to project calm and control. "What you experienced at the hands of the Colonials was unacceptable."

"Seven…" Janeway quickly decided she couldn't very well tell the other woman not to feel a certain way. And it did fill her with warmth that Seven cared for her, but the Captain thought she understood more about what had happened onboard the _Galactica_ to just brush it off as another run-in with hostile "aliens". "I might have done the same thing in their place."

It had been meant to be an offhand comment by Janeway, but she could immediately see in Seven's expression that it had elicited a strong reaction.

"If positions had been reversed and President Roslin and Admiral Adama had been on _Voyager_ and had the means to get to Earth you would have imprisoned them with no just cause, not addressed their injuries, threatened them with physical torture, ordered the Doctor not to treat a serious wound, and drug them with hallucinogenic drugs that would cause extreme distress?" Seven's gaze narrowed as she watched Janeway take in her words with a grim expression.

"That's not what I meant." Janeway had to turn away from the pointed look Seven was paying her as her own ire increased. "They are a desperate people, Seven. Their worlds have been destroyed, they've been cast adrift hardly prepared for the dangers of space, and their one aspiration has been denied them. _Voyager_ is a luxury cruise ship compared to the _Galactica_."

"Irrelevant." Seven's confusion and impatience at how Janeway was defending the Colonials colored her tone. "Their actions were unacceptable. You would never have acted in such a manner."

Janeway felt the uncomfortable weight of shame and regret fill her as she thought about what she had done not so long ago in an attempt to garner information from Noah Lessing. Any fight that was in Janeway's voice softened under the pressure of her own feelings of disgrace. "I'm not perfect, Seven."

"No. You are human." Seven's voice also lost its hard edge as she hoped she was finally getting through to her Captain. "You are the most human person I know."

Janeway couldn't help but be affected by the soft words. If they had come from anyone else she might have wondered about a double edged meaning, a back handed compliment of sorts. But coming from Seven she felt humbled and pleased.

"I've… done things I'm not proud of, but I can't say I would go back and do it differently even if it were possible."

Images and events flashed in Janeway's mind's eye. Quinn. Tuvix. Her alliance with the Borg. Arturis. Crell Moset. Erasing the Doctor's memories. Ransom. Noah Lessing. And then there was always Seven. She had forcefully ripped Seven from the Borg, thrust humanity and all of its foibles onto her and told her it was for her own good. How confusing and terrifying it must have been for Seven to have individuality so forced upon her amongst a ship full of people who more often than not feared her, even to the point of phobia. It was to Seven's credit that she adapted as well as she had in the last two years.

"You do not seek absolution from the things you have done. The choices you have made under desperate circumstances." Seven knew of some of the acts Janeway had committed before she had been taken from the Borg. After reading the private logs of Captain Janeway when privacy had been irrelevant had told Seven much about the self-recriminations the other woman's actions have caused her. "Yet you intimate that I forgive the Colonials for their actions. Actions that caused you pain and distress."

"Who would I seek my 'absolution' from? I'm alone out here." Janeway's slim shoulders shrugged minutely to ward off any uneasiness caused by Seven's defensive attitude.

"You forgive them because they are human. As you did the crew of the _Equinox_. As you would have Captain Ransom if he had survived." Seven's assuredness was in her blunt tones and lifted chin. "As you do me. I have helped destroy billions of lives. Assimilated thousands of individuals myself. And yet you have allowed me to live. To become a member of your crew. To develop into an individual. You have… forgiven me."

Seven's voice lost some of its certainty as it trailed off into a whisper. A gentle finger under her chin caused Seven's eyes to lift as well. She saw conviction in the dark blue eyes that met her own steadily. A small smile lifted one corner of Janeway's lips.

"If you want my forgiveness you have it. But you don't need my forgiveness, Seven. You weren't responsible for your actions. And I think having twenty years stolen by the Borg is punishment enough." Hot tears gathered in Janeway's throat as all the conviction she had within herself came through in her openly affectionate expression. "You're an individual. An extraordinary individual, Seven."

The fingers on Seven's chin lingered for a moment after emotion caused her voice to crack. Feeling self-conscious Janeway began to pull her hand away from Seven's soft skin, but was stopped when a metal laced hand grasped her wrist.

Their eyes were fixed on one another seemingly frozen in time as something changed between them in the one simple act of Seven initiating physical contact with Janeway, which was something she hardly if ever did. In the span of time their gazes remained locked, Seven remembered the Captain's words aboard the _Delta Flyer_ shortly after the Doctor revived her.

CHAPTER 20

While onboard the _Delta Flyer_, Seven never left Janeway's side even as she transferred the Doctor's program into the mobile emitter she had utilized for the mission.

"Her immune system has been severely compromised." The Doctor carefully removed the metal brace and bloodied bandage that was wrapped around the Captain's left thigh with a pained expression. "This wound has become infected. I'm going to have to cleanse the drugs out of her system before I can operate. She may become nauseous, so she will have to be revived before we can begin."

Seven stood by the biobed in the _Delta Flyer's_ aft section that contained Janeway's unconscious form as Ensign Jarot and William Telfer assisted the Doctor in the upcoming procedures. The Doctor pressed a hypospray containing a mild stimulant against Captain Janeway's neck. Immediately after the dispersal, Janeway groaned as she began to rise against the darkness that had enclosed her.

"Seven… please… forgive me."

Janeway's voice had been so soft Seven doubted anyone else in the cabin had heard the affecting words or the distressed manner in which they had been spoken. Confusion warred with the almost physically painful wrenching in her chest. And above all Seven felt tenderness as she replied earnestly just as softly as her Captain.

"I forgive you."

Shortly after speaking those three simples words that had a calming effect on Janeway, the Doctor had scooted Seven away and administered a powerful anti-toxin solution. Janeway's expression clearly showed the nauseating side-effect of the medicine, but she controlled the lurching in her stomach as she came back to reality rather quickly.

"Doctor?" Janeway's eyes opened to find the holographic CMO standing above her. He had a serious though affable expression on his craggy features.

"It's all right, Captain." The Doctor administered a full spectrum antibiotic, along with a painkiller, and an immunoboost. "You're safe now. We're on the _Delta Flyer_ heading back to _Voyager_."

A suddenly worried thought caused Janeway to sit up abruptly. "Seven!"

"I am here." Seven stood stiffly as Janeway' expression softened into a mixture of gratitude and relief.

"Has the _Galactica_ jumped?" Knowing her leg still needed attending to despite the fact she couldn't actually feel it, Janeway settled back against the cushions of the biobed.

"No, Commander Chakotay took out their propulsion system. He'll transport their missing part once we're back onboard _Voyager_ and ready to leave this sector." The Doctor smiled smugly at what he thought had been an ingenious maneuver on the First Officer's part.

"I need to speak with the Commander." Janeway's expression was not at all smug as she made a quick decision.

The Doctor tapped his combadge as directed. "Doctor to Commander Chakotay."

"Go ahead, Doctor." There was obvious fear underlining Chakotay's otherwise profession tones.

"Chakotay, we can't leave this sector once the _Delta Flyer_ is onboard. The _Galactica_ is the Fleet's main line of defense. And even if you replace their missing part it will still take them time to repair the damage. Also have Neelix put together a list of supplies we can send over to the _Galactica_." Janeway ignored the looks both Seven and the Doctor were paying here as she continued issuing her orders. "They've surrendered and I believe Admiral Adama to be true to his word. But tell them if they make any hostile move towards _Voyager_ we will retaliate."

A completely confounded Commander Chakotay answered with the only response he knew she would accept. "Aye, Captain."

"Captain, are you ready for transport?"

Captain Janeway nodded her head to the Doctor's question. She allowed her gaze to move to Seven even as she shimmered away on a transporter beam.

CHAPTER 21

Seven was abruptly taken out of her reverie when Janeway attempted to pull her wrist from the metal laced grasp. Seven maintained her gentle, but unyielding hold as she looked intently at Janeway's rather bemused features. Her voice was soft as if what she was about to tell her Captain was a secret that even the walls of her living quarters could not be privy to.

"I forgive you, Kathryn. Even though I do not believe you have done anything to require it. I do forgive you." Seven had already supposed Janeway recalled the drug induced engram cascade and the look of remembrance verified it. "And you are not alone. I am here."

Kathryn Janeway wasn't sure what to be more shocked and astounded by. The use of her first name. The heartfelt words that warmed something within her that she didn't even know had existed until the cold feeling of guilt was gone. Perhaps the hand that still held her wrist. Or the fact that Seven's face was progressing ever so slowly towards her own until warm breath drifted across her lips. Janeway was also surprised to find that she had closed her eyes and had only noticed that fact when she reopened them to find Seven with a lift to her full moist lips.

"I love you."

Janeway only had the time it took for her to gasp in astonishment before Seven's lips covered her own and her eyes once again drifted close as the sweetest kiss she had ever received was given to her by the woman she held forever close to her heart. The heart which was now thumping wildly in her chest at the sensation of Seven's lips moving slowly over hers. It was an inexperienced, but sincere kiss which made it all the more beautiful. No other part of Seven was touching her except for her lips and the one hand on her wrist, but Janeway felt warmth spread throughout her body from those two points of contact.

It could be categorized by most as a chaste kiss, but it was still the most powerful life-changing kiss Kathryn Janeway had ever experienced in her life. Ever hoped to experience. It was different from all the other kisses because at that moment she knew she was loved unconditionally, powerfully and ceaselessly. For Seven never did anything halfway.

As her lips moved over Janeway's, Seven pulled Janeway closer to her body until the petite frame was pressed tightly against her own. The points of warm contact almost overwhelmed Seven even as she hugged the other woman closer to her body. What had started off as tentative movements, Seven now began a more thorough exploration as her tongue pushed between lips and teeth in order to dance and dual with Janeway's.

The groan of pleasure that rumbled from Janeway's throat spurred Seven on to take her expression of love to the next level. Seven began to part Kathryn Janeway's robe with unhurried deliberation. Just when the robe was about to fall away completely firm hands grasped Seven's forearms, which effectively stopped the impending removal of her robe

"Seven, please stop." Janeway's eyes were heavily-lidded, her pupils were dilated, and the hammering of her heart in her chest could be felt by Seven. The heavy breathing as if Janeway had just exerted herself physically caused her voice to come out low and husky, with confusion and apprehension infusing the gravelly tones. "What does this mean?"

"You are shaking." With great care, Seven pulled the cream colored robe tighter to warm the suddenly very vulnerable woman before her.

After the robe was once again secure, Seven let her eyes drift back to Janeway's elegant features and realized that the Captain had never taken her questioning eyes off of Seven. She was awaiting an answer.

"This means I will no longer allow you to see yourself as being alone. Nor will I allow my existence to be a lonely one when it is possible to change it." Seven cupped Janeway's face in her right hand as she looked as earnest as she could. "You have taught me how to be an individual, to be human. You have also shown me why I should strive to be human. You say you are not 'perfect'. Is it not 'human' to have flaws, to make mistakes and to learn from them, to adapt? I am not perfect. Can we not be imperfect together?"

Seven's lips lifted into a small smile of wonder as moisture escaped from Janeway's blue eyes. The tears that fell on to her hand were warm and Seven treasured them.

"What I feel for you I cannot adequately put into words, but I know that it is love. Even when I am not in your presence I often have thoughts of you. What you might be feeling, thinking, doing and hoping none of those are causing you distress. I often wonder if you know how often you have almost caught me observing you… on the Bridge, at staff meetings, while playing Velocity, or at social gatherings." Seven didn't add that the only reason why she succumbed to Janeway's "order" to attend celebrations usually held in the Mess Hall was because the Captain usually sought her out at such events. "Do you know that when you smile and it causes your eyes to seem illuminated from within that an almost uncontainable warmth fills my chest. It is almost painful when I am filled with such simple joy. Or when you are threatened, as you were onboard the _Galactica_, that what I feel is actually painful. I feel… rage and fear. I wanted to do irreparable harm to President Roslin and Admiral Adama for causing you pain, but I knew that you would not approve of such action so I did not. Because I do not want you to be disappointed in me. I do not want you to see me as a failure. As an unfeeling machine. As someone incapable of feeling love. Or undeserving of it in return."

Without losing contact with Seven's light blue gaze, Janeway took the hand that had cupped her face and caught tears away from her cheek as she gathered the metal encased hand in her other. She held both of Seven's hands in her own as she allowed the love she had thought she had to keep hidden shine through her smile and her bright blue eyes. "I do believe that you love me. But there are many different forms that love can take. The truth is, Seven… I'm in love with you. I have been for a very long time. I never dared hope you would return my feelings. I'm afraid that you still might not. Why did you kiss me?"

"You believe my love for you is… platonic? You are wrong." Seven's tone wasn't nearly as steely as it usually was when she was correcting someone. She knew Janeway was not nearly as confident when it came to matters of the heart than with being the Captain, the scientist, and the leader. "Would you think me perverse if I confessed that I have thought about… imagined what your naked form would look like when aroused by my ministrations? By my hands and lips touching your skin. How I have wondered how you would sound as I pleasured you with my tongue. What your taste would be like and how your scent would coat my skin. How you would feel around my fingers as I entered you. Would you moan my name? Scream the name of a deity? Or would you make soft guttural groans and grunts as you have done while we have played Velocity, which has made me wonder if you knew the effects those sounds cause within me. They distract me and I have wondered if perhaps I would win a match if you would refrain from making such provocative noises. Or perhaps you would think me inappropriate if I told you that I know you are quite aroused right now, that your fragrance in the air has alerted me of this fact. And you might deny your body's reactions, but I would not believe you. And what, I wonder, would you say if I told you that resistance was futile?"

Kathryn Janeway, for perhaps the first time in her life, had been struck mute by Seven's words which had in fact aroused her beyond anything she had every experienced before. She was sure even without Seven's enhanced senses the other woman would have been able to detect her excitement at hearing those aggressively sexual wonderings.

Any answer Kathryn would have voiced was prevented quite effectively by Seven's hot mouth on hers once again. This time the kisses were anything but tentative and chaste. They were insistent and forceful to the point of being almost bruising. She welcomed the aggression and matched Seven's passion with her own.

Before she realized Seven's intention, Kathryn was pushed gently, but swiftly onto her back atop her sofa. Any residual pain in her left thigh was utterly forgotten as her legs fell open to accommodate Seven's form nestled in between them. Her arms were held above her head and over the armrest by the gentle, but firm hold of Seven's metal laced hand. Seven's right hand began the work left unfinished when Janeway had stopped her previous actions with a "please". The knot of the cream colored robe released within Seven's hands before the silky material separated to reveal Kathryn's naked form.

"You are beautiful." Seven's words came out breathy as she took in the small lithe form of the indomitable Captain Janeway revealed to her completely for the first time, of what Seven knew, would be many. "May I touch you?"

Seven had let her metal encased hand fall away from Janeway's wrists as she purposefully kept it away from the vulnerable flesh beneath her. Kathryn smiled encouragingly as she understood Seven's hesitation regarding her Borg appendage. She took both of Seven's wrists in her hands and brought Seven's fingers and palms, both metal and flesh, to rest upon the creamy expanse of her upper chest dusted lightly by small freckles. "Please."

Seven smiled the first toothy grin she had ever possessed while in the company of another as she felt completely accepted despite her own wariness regarding her powerfully enhanced hand and body. "I will comply."

With agonizing slowness Seven left a heated trail across Kathryn's already hot skin. Seven reveled in the guttural moans that emanated from Kathryn when she covered both her breasts before she manipulated the pliant flesh and hardened peaks. Seven only stopped when Kathryn writhed urgently against her and wetness was felt thought the material of her biosuit that was pressed against Kathryn's heated center. Both her hands brushed against the flat expanse of Kathryn's stomach, past her fascinating indentation known as a bellybutton which Seven no longer possessed, down to the source of the fiery heat and moisture contained where Kathryn's thighs met.

"Seven!" Kathryn's slim pale body arched like a bow upon Seven's entry. Her eyes fluttered as the two fingers within her flexed and brushed against a collection of nerve endings that caused Kathryn to voice her pleasure with Seven's name repeatedly between moans and exhalations. Seven knew she had never heard a more perfect sound in her life than Kathryn Janeway impassioned by her.

CHAPTER 22

"The time is oh five hundred. The time is oh five hundred. The time is—"

"Computer, turn off the alarm, reset." Kathryn Janeway groaned as she held her right hand over her eyes against the bright lights of her bedroom. She groaned again when she felt muscles she hadn't used in five long years ache in remembrance of last night's activities. She suddenly realized with a cold feeling landing in the pit of her stomach that she was alone in her bed. Had she dreamt the whole thing? Impossible.

Janeway used her sheets to cover her nakedness when she sat upright in bed to take in her surroundings. Aside from the rumpled bed she presently occupied nothing was out of the ordinary. It wasn't until she smelled the unmistakable scent of coffee that the cold feeling of dread seeped away and she smiled brilliantly as the bearer of the blessed beverage entered the bedroom.

Seven's hair fell across her shoulders in soft waves that looked even smoother than Janeway's cream colored robe she had on that ended at the provocative length of mid-thigh exposing a large expanse of leg to Janeway's appreciative gaze.

"Oh, thank you." Janeway took the proffered mug of coffee happily and inhaled the aroma of the hot beverage before she took her first sip. She smiled in gratitude as her bright blue eyes met Seven's icy blue look of unhidden adoration. "Good morning."

"Good morning." Seven elevated the greeting with a lingering kiss that left the Captain literally breathless. "Breakfast is ready."

Janeway took sips from her mug as she stroked the creamy material and the body that was hidden beneath. Her voice was inquisitive though her eyes danced with merriment that curled her lips as well. "If you're wearing my robe, what am I supposed to wear?"

"Nothing." Seven smiled a small but happy smile of amusement when Janeway's eyes went wide at the matter-of-fact answer. "I prefer it."

"Oh, you do, do you?" Janeway's voice was lightly teasing as she continued to let her free hand glide over the satiny material that covered Seven's torso. "Well, as much as I like your preferences I do have a modicum of modesty, you know."

It surprised Janeway when Seven suddenly stood before she divested herself of the borrowed robe. Standing stiffly at attention as if she were on the Bridge as opposed to standing gloriously nude in her Captain's bedroom, Seven quirked the metal implant as she maintained a false seriousness. "I do not. You may have your robe back."

"How am I supposed to eat with you sitting across from me like that?" Janeway wasn't sure how she was even supposed to be able to breathe when faced with such a magnificent and arousing sight. Seven merely looked at her with challenge in her eyes almost daring Janeway to make a move on her. Janeway knew she wasn't going to be the one to lose this battle of wills. "Keep it. I'll just replicate a new one."

Janeway ignored her body's protest for moving away from Seven's warmth as she moved to the clothing replicator in her closet. It could definitely be said that the fearless Captain Janeway let out a rather squeaky yelp when arms suddenly closed around her across her chest and hips. She groaned with happiness as soft curves and warm metal pressed tightly against her naked back.

"Perhaps this will assist you in overcoming your 'modicum of modesty'."

Seven's soft voice caused Kathryn Janeway's body to flush with excitement. The metal encased hand that moved quickly to nestle in between her legs helped as well. A flood of moisture coated Seven's metal tipped fingers as she entered the woman held lovingly, but firmly in her arms. The guttural sounds that emanated from Kathryn caused a rush of moisture between Seven's legs. Seven rubbed her heated center against Janeway as she thrust her fingers repeatedly. As Seven's climax rapidly approached her fingers increased the speed of their movements as well, which expedited Kathryn's own release. With Seven's name on her lips Kathryn Janeway's legs buckled as she peaked.

Seven had no time to recover from her own climax before she found herself sprawled across Kathryn's expansive bed with her knees bent and her legs splayed exposing her to her lover's heated blue gaze and skillful tongue.

It was quite close to the start of Alpha Shift when Seven and Kathryn managed to pull themselves apart long enough to shower and don their biosuit and uniform, respectively. Kathryn thanked Seven sincerely for the breakfast despite the Eggs Benedict going to waste. Instead, Janeway replicated another cup of coffee and Seven had a nutritional supplement.

Janeway carefully set her mug atop her dining room table, before she looked seriously at Seven with an almost commanding expression. "Seven we need to talk."

Seven's voice hitched with sudden worry. "Do you regret what we have done?"

"No!" Janeway calmed herself as she laid a reassuring hand over Seven's metal lace one. "No, not at all. Why? Do you?"

"Never." Seven had detected a note of concern in Janeway's voice as well. Despite all they had done with one another over the course of the evening and early morning they were both uncertain where they stood. Seven decided Kathryn was correct. They did need to talk. To discuss parameters of their new relationship.

"I meant what I said last night. I love you, Seven. I'm in love with you. And I have been for a long while now." Kathryn's eyes drifted down to their joined hands as she tried to voice her concern which came out as an apprehensive whisper. "I just… I don't know what we do now."

"I will move in and we will be engaged." Seven thought those two steps were the most logical, though she could tell by the bemused expression that Janeway had not thought along those lines. "I have surprised you."

"I just… don't you think that's a little… fast?"

"No, I do not. What would you have us do? Date?"

"I think a few dates would be nice, don't you?"

Seven smiled brightly as if she had just been given a precious gift. "In public?"

"Seven, this isn't something that has to be hidden." Janeway thought about Seven's tendency to be a bit indiscreet and thought better of her words. "Well, some aspects of our relationship should be kept just between the two of us but… I'm happier than I have ever been since we got stuck in this godforsaken quadrant and I don't care who knows. No strike that, I do care. I want everyone to know. I love you, Seven. Everyone should know how fortunate I am that you love me back."

Janeway was not known for her sappiness and Seven wasn't known for being demonstrative in her display of emotion. Both women were happily out of their elements at the moment.

"Seven, I would love if you'd move in with me." Janeway ignored the nervousness and her own need for privacy since she was even more overcome by the prospect of Seven being her lover and then her wife. "I know you're probably a horrible slob, but I want to spend every moment I can with you. I want to fall asleep in your arms and wake up every morning I can in the same way. As for the proposal… I need to have at least one date before we make that official. I can't very well have my first date with you be our wedding."

"Kathryn Janeway are you asking me to marry you?" Seven's full lips quirked up in delight as did her silver optical implant. She felt something akin to a bursting sensation warm her chest.

Janeway regretted not having anything close to an engagement ring, but she and Seven were anything if unconventional, besides she had something hidden away even more precious than a diamond set in gold. "I suppose I am."

"Then I accept."

"Well, I'm glad that's settled then."

Janeway squeaked a high-pitched note of surprise which was quite unbecoming of a Starfleet Captain as she was suddenly swept off her feet before she was carried into her bedroom.

CHAPTER 23

"Hmph." Doctor Gregory Sandra Lewis looked it his communications display in his office in Sickbay onboard _Voyager_ with a look of both annoyance and relief on his features. He had wanted to order Captain Janeway to take a few days off to rest after her arduous ordeal onboard the _Galactica_ but he knew all efforts on his part would be futile. But apparently, according to the memo from Commander Chakotay to all department heads the Captain had taken it upon herself to institute her own rest period. The Doctor was irritated because he wanted to submit his name change to the Captain as soon as possible so he could be given his rank as soon as possible. Commander Lewis, he liked the sound of that.

CHAPTER 24

Ensign Harry Kim's heart seemed to skip a beat when his eyes rested appreciatively on the person manning the Astrometrics command console. "Good morning."

"Ensign Kim. Sir! Good morning."

Before his greeting the sound of the door alerted Tal Celes with a start to his presence. A presence she was more than happy to be in. Celes watched with a sort of giddiness permeating her lanky figure as he approached her with a broad smile and an open expression on his attractive features. She thought his smooth nose was especially endearing.

"How do the skies look?" Harry looked up at the large holographic screen that displayed the space around _Voyager's_ current position and was pleased to see it looked pretty bare, boring even. He looked over to his companion and smiled what he hoped was a charming, but professional smile. He tried to ignore the fact that he found the ridges across the bridge of her nose quite lovely.

"Pretty calm, Sir." Celes enlarged the sector they were heading in that contained nothing more than a few asteroid fields to emphasize her point and for something for her fidgeting fingers to do.

"Harry. It's just Harry." He tried to act relaxed and nonchalant as he leaned against the console. "So, uh, have you seen Seven? I have something I need to see her about."

Celes had just recovered from Ensign Kim's instructions to use his first name, so it took her a moment to register that he had just asked her a question. One she was just about bursting to tell someone. "You won't believe this but Seven took the day off."

"Seven? As in Seven of Nine?" Harry's dark eyes widened with surprise and mirth. "About six foot, blonde hair blue eyes, former Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix Zero One? You're right, I don't believe it."

"She sent me a memo about twenty minutes ago. I had to read it twice before it registered in my brain that she was actually leaving the Astrometrics lab in what she referred to as "moderately adequate" hands." Celes would only admit it to herself at the moment that she thought Seven was actually being pretty generous with that assessment.

"Well, I knew the Doc wanted her to take some time off after the, uh, recent events, but I never thought she'd actually go for it. Huh?" Harry didn't add the fact that he knew from handing the Bridge over to Chakotay after his Gamma Shift watch that the Captain had also done the seemingly impossible. She had also taken a personal day. He wondered if the two events were somehow connected.

"From what I've heard Seven deserves a month off after being held prisoner with the Captain and the two of them getting poked at by… by needles!" Celes internally shivered at the thought of hollow pieces of metal going forcefully into her body and extracting her blood. It was the thing of nightmares. She sort of wished Billy had never informed her about that little tidbit. "What did you want to see her about? Maybe I can help. I am in charge of Astrometrics after all."

"Actually I have something with her name on it." Harry held a blue octagonal piece of plastic up for evidence. The disc did indeed have a large red "7" written on it. "So, I guess I, uh, better go find her then."

"Oh… oh yeah, of course. I'll just see you later." Celes tried not to let her disappointment show, but ever since the incident with the interphasic life form she found that she had a bit of a thing for the Operations Officer.

Before the doors could open, Harry turned around with forced confidence. "Uh, Celes. Would you want to eat dinner? I mean with me? After your shift is over. And before I cover the Bridge for Gamma Shift? We could either meet in the mess hall or I could come by here or you know… whatever."

Harry was sweating and he knew it. The large brown eyes weren't helping his nervousness.

"Yes, I mean to all of it. Or, you know, some of it." Celes bit her bottom lip in an attempt to contain herself. Just wait until Billy hears about this.

Her best friend, Billy Telfer, had been advising and goading her to get up the courage to ask Harry Kim out on a date. She was relieved and elated that now she didn't have to.

"Okay, great, um… I'll just come by here after your shift ends then."

"Sounds great. I'll just see you then, I mean later."

"Okay, later then."

The only reason why a giddy Harry Kim didn't run into the doors to the Astrometrics lab was because they were specially designed to prevent such an occurrence. As he walked toward Cargo Bay 2 he didn't quite punch himself in the arm for a job well-done, but there was definitely an air of accomplishment surrounding him.

The large pneumatic doors opened into the cavernous and green tinted cargo bay and Harry was relieved that he no longer felt apprehensive about the active Borg hardware therein. He never thought he'd see the day where he could get used to anything having to do with the Borg. But things change. People change.

"Seven?" Harry passed by the cargo containers to where the regeneration alcoves were situated, but there was no Seven. "Huh. Kim to Seven."

Harry stood with his hands on his hips staring idly at Borg alcoves as he waited for a reply and then waited some more before his brow creased in bemusement and a touch of worry. "Computer, locate Seven of Nine."

"Seven of Nine is in Captain Janeway's quarters."

"Huh? What's she doing there?" Since no answers were going to come from the cargo containers Harry departed the cargo bay to go to the turbolift. He debated whether he should go to the Captain's quarters, but something made him decide against such an action. Whether it was intuition or the fact that both women weren't on duty it didn't matter since he decided whatever was on the disc could wait for the following morning. Surely whatever it was couldn't really be that important since he found it intermixed with deployment files from Chief Tryol. Though he was curious to find out what "FTL" meant.

THE END


End file.
